Comet 45P Live Stream: Watch Icy Body Of Rock Come Closest To Earth In Decades

Space spectators and stargazers are in for a treat as a lunar eclipse, "snow" moon and comet will all be seen in the sky within hours of each other Friday night. Comet 45P will be visible to the naked eye as it comes closest to Earth about 10:30 p.m. EST.

A lunar eclipse happens when the sun’s light is blocked by Earth’s shadow, usually as a result of Earth coming between the moon and the sun during its orbit. The best view of Friday’s penumbral lunar eclipse — when the Earth blocks a part of the moon with its shadow — will occur at 7:43 p.m. EST. A full moon will also be seen Friday, nicknamed a "snow” moon for this year’s month of February. Every full moon gets its own name following Native American traditions, USA Today reported.

"[Native American] tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred,” the Farmers’ Almanac explained.

Comet 45P makes a later debut during the night, zooming past the Earth at 14.2 miles per second, nearly 7.4 million miles away from the planet. The comet is expected to be visible for the rest of February, but then won’t be around again until 2022, a newsletter from NASA said.

For those who cannot make it outside or do not have access to a clear sky, watch the live stream here.

“[The comet will] be visible in the morning sky in the constellation Hercules. The comet then passes through the constellations Corona Borealis [the Northern Crown], Boötes [the Herdsman], Canes Venatici [Boötes' hunting dogs] and Ursa Major. Then on to Leo by the end of February. It moves swiftly — 9 degrees each day!” said Jane Houston Jones of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Comet 45P has been seen in the sky in the past and regularly makes an orbit around the sun. It was first viewed in 1948, making it the 45th discovered periodic comet after Haley’s comet, the New York Post reported.