Astronomers across Scotland are preparing for a treat as a lunar eclipse graces the sky.

On Friday night, stargazers will notice the top of the moon becoming dimmer, as a penumbral eclipse occurs due to the earth passing between the moon and sun, blocking out sunlight and casting a shadow on the surface of the moon.

While not a total eclipse - that will not happen until 2019 - a penumbral eclipse is subtle, so the full moon will look slightly dimmer than usual.

The eclipse begins at 10.34pm and dimming of the moon will start to become detectable with the naked eye after 11pm.

It is due to peak at 12.44am on Saturday before ending at 2.53am.

The eclipse also coincides with two other events; a 'Snow Moon' and the passing of the comet 45P, nicknamed the New Year comet.

STV presenter and meteorologist Sean Batty has predicted a "bitterly cold night" for most of Scotland, which although means boots and warm woolly hats, also means potentially good viewing conditions for an eclipse.

What is a Snow Moon?

Snow moon is the name given to February's full moon, as historically it's always been the snowiest month in America.

Some native American tribes also traditionally referred to it as the Hunger Moon, because hunting was very difficult in snowy conditions.

With temperatures dropping across Scotland, conditions can make for excellent clear skies and the potential for stunning lunar shots, such as the image at the top of this article taken on Thursday night by Morven Gabriel from the field behind her house.

What is the New Year comet?

Technically known as Comet 45P, the New Year comet was discovered by Moniru Honda in 1948, and is named after Moniru Honda, Antonín Mrkos, and Ľudmila Pajdušáková.

It makes an appearance every five-and-a-quarter years and has been visible around the world since December - including over the New Year.

This weekend, it will be around 7.4 million miles from Earth as it makes its closest approach since 2011. Stargazers should look up at the constellation Hercules from midnight on February 10/11 and look out for its blue-green 'head' and fan-shaped tail.

It will be difficult to spot with the naked eye, so binoculars or a telescope is your best bet of catching it.

Where can I see all this?

As always with stargazing in Scotland, the best place to view the night sky is out of the city limits.

According to Visit Scotland, there are many 'dark sky' places in Scotland which offer great locations to see the night sky.

Galloway Forest Park in particular was chosen by the International Dark Sky Association to be the very first national park in the UK to be honoured with Dark Sky Park status.

There are only two other such parks in the whole of Europe.

Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway also takes the title of Europe's first Dark Sky Town, having adopted special street lighting to keep light pollution to a minimum in order to preserve the starry skies.

North west Sutherland, between Kylesku and Inchnadamph is also arguably one of the darkest sky locations in the UK and possibly Europe and there are no less than nine locations on Skye that have been officially named 'Dark Discovery Sites' after they were judged to be perfect spots for stargazing.