Get ready , stargazers . You ’re about to be treat to a double payload of astronomical outcome , with a lunar occultation on the same dark a distant comet will be visible from Earth .
The couple will come to the skies on Friday , February 10 . First up , you ’ll hopefully be able to witness a penumbral lunar eclipse , provided it ’s a clear night . A penumbral lunar occultation is a elusive raft . It come about when the Sun , Earth , and Moon align in a slenderly off uncoiled line . This causes the Earth to block some of the Sun ’s light from straightaway reaching the Moon , meaning it appears darken with a blurred shadow around its edges .
This will be substantially seen by those in eastern North America , Europe , Africa , Central and South America , and western Asia , who will be able to see the case relatively easily during the hour either side of midnight on Friday , according toSky & Telescope . Central North Americans will catch it good at around moonrise and sunset . Those in the west of the US will have the worst view but should be able to notice a more or less faded Moon during the last hours of the night .
While all this is going on , comet 45P will also be visible after sunset on Friday , as it has been over the last two month . AsNASA explicate , the comet will make its closest approach on Saturday , February 11 , when it will dash past some 11.9 million kilometers ( 7.4 million miles ) above Earth . It will be seen in the west of the sky and is well viewed using basic binoculars and telescope in the early hours just after midnight .
If you have n’t got a span of opera glasses or a telescope already , now might be the sentence to vest in some !
However , if you ’re ineffectual to see these two heavenly result with your own eye then the Slooh Observatory will be send two live - streamed shows on Friday report them both . The lunar occultation broadcast begin at 2:30 post-mortem examination PST , 5:30 PM EST ; and the comet close coming program starts at 7:30 premier PST , 10:30 PM EST . you may take hold of both of them in the picture players below .
