It’s been said that good things come in threes.

Perhaps that can best explain the extreme rarity of a blue moon, blood moon, super moon and a total lunar eclipse all taking place in the same calendar month.

The first full moon of January occurred on the night of Jan. 1, or the morning of Jan. 2, depending on location.

As luck would have it, the supermoon will take place tonight, while the second full moon and the lunar eclipse is expected to occur Wednesday morning.

Susan Gallagher, chief naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center, said this particular time of year is ideal for the circumstance.

“We always try to encourage people to get outside and look up,” Gallagher said. “Winter is an exceptional time to do that.”

Gallagher said this is an example of how the earlier darkness can result in a positive experience.

“This is just a little extra incentive to get outside,” she said.

“I think this is a reminder that there are some cool things to see because of that earlier darkness.”

Gallagher noted that the CCEEC will have a stargazing program in mid-April that will feature a professor from Penn State.

“As long as we don’t have cloud cover, hopefully we’ll be able to get out and see some meteor showers,” she said. “It just happens on a regular basis; it’s something that is predictable.”

A blue moon is when two full moons happen in the same calendar month; lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into Earth’s shadow; and supermoons happen when the moon’s perigee — its closest approach to Earth in a single orbit — coincides with a full moon.

In this instance, the supermoon also happens to be the day of the lunar eclipse.