Snow moon, New Year comet and lunar eclipse all in one night

THE evening of Friday February 10 will see three cosmic events happen over the space of one evening: the snow moon, the New Year comet and a penumbral lunar eclipse.

On that night, the sun, the moon and Earth will line up in an almost straight line, causing the Earth’s outer shadow, or penumbra, to eclipse the moon.

The lunar events can be seen across the continents – except for Asia and Australasia – from 10.34pm GMT on February 10 until 2.53am, with the best time to see the phenomenon being 12.44am, according to astronomers.

Just one hour later, 3.53am, the New Year comet will make its closest pass by Earth on its trajectory and will visible to the naked eye.