Triple Treat: Lunar Eclipse Full Moon and Comet to Light Up Idaho Sky
A once in a lifetime cool celestial event is happening this weekend...and all you have to do to see it is look up this Friday night.
These events are spectacular by themselves, but will be even more special when all three come together on the same evening this Friday (Feb. 10th into Sat. morning of Feb. 11th)
Here are a few facts for those of you who don’t want to miss this triple treat.
The full moon will rise about 7:30 MST and set at around 7:20 on Saturday Morning.
North America is not the best place to view the lunar eclipse, but we will be able to see it. (see map) because it will be visible here in the Treasure Valley from around 9:45pm until about Midnight.
The comet will be visible in the eastern sky with a binoculars or telescope. It might also be visible to the naked eye, but to get a clearer view, you will want to use at least a pair of binoculars. According to NASA, Friday night is actually the closest the comet will get to Earth at around 7.4 million miles. Which seems like a lot, but in space it’s not that far. The comet is only visible every 5 ¼ years and that fact that we get to view it at its closest this weekend while the eclipse and full moon are happening is pretty lucky.
So we can all hope for the clouds to clear by Friday, and the National Weather Service says we should start to see clearing Friday night, then head outside and look up. It looks like the best time to get a view of all three at once will be around 10:30 to 11:30pm