{"id":716864,"date":"2026-06-05T13:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/716864\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T13:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:32:21","slug":"august-2026-lunar-eclipse-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-96-blood-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/716864\/","title":{"rendered":"August 2026 lunar eclipse \u2014 Everything you need to know about the 96% ‘blood moon’"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Aug. 27-28, 2026, a very deep partial lunar eclipse will be visible from Europe, Africa, North America and South America, with just over 96% of the moon passing into Earth’s shadow.<\/p>\n

Lunar eclipses<\/a> happen when Earth<\/a> is between the sun<\/a> and a full moon. During the event, the moon moves through Earth’s umbra, the dark center of its shadow.<\/p>\n

Where will the August 2026 partial lunar eclipse be visible?<\/p>\n

The best views of the August 2026 partial lunar eclipse will be from North and South America. According to Time and Date<\/a>, about 12% of the world’s population \u2014 987 million people \u2014 will see all phases of the eclipse (penumbral and partial), while around 16% \u2014 1.3 billion \u2014 will see all of the partial phase. Viewing conditions will depend on the local weather, with western U.S. states, northern Chile and inland Brazil statistically offering the best odds of clear skies.<\/p>\n

What will happen during the partial lunar eclipse?<\/p>\n

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A map of the lunar eclipse on Aug. 27-28, 2026. Click the arrows in the bottom left corner to expand to full screen. (Image credit: F. Espenak, NASA’s GSFC)<\/p>\n

The Aug. 27-28, 2026, event will be the first deep partial lunar eclipse anywhere in the world since Sept. 18, 2024, and the last until Jan. 11-12, 2028 (when only 2.4% of the moon will be in Earth’s umbral shadow). As such, 2026’s partial lunar eclipse will be the most impressive lunar eclipse until a total lunar eclipse on Dec. 31, 2028.<\/p>\n

During the August 2026 eclipse, the full “Sturgeon Moon” will rise and, later that night, pass into Earth’s umbral shadow. As it does, the full moon<\/a> will dim and, as the partial eclipse reaches its peak, look slightly reddish-orange. However, it won’t be a true “blood moon<\/a>” because at no point will there be lunar totality \u2014 when the entire lunar surface falls under Earth’s shadow. The eclipse \u2014 including both the slight penumbral (when the moon drifts into Earth’s fuzzy outer shadow) and partial phases \u2014 will last 5 hours, 38 minutes.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

This partial lunar eclipse will occur just over five days after the moon<\/a> reaches apogee \u2014 its farthest point from Earth on its slightly elliptical orbit \u2014 making it of average apparent size.<\/p>\n

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A deep partial lunar eclipse makes for an impressive skywatching event. (Image credit: Laurie LaPorte via Getty Images)What time is the August 2026 partial lunar eclipse in North America?<\/p>\n

Lunar eclipses occur at the same universal time worldwide, but the local clock time and whether the moon is above the horizon vary by location. This one will happen between 9:23 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Aug. 27, and 3:01 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 28 (0123 and 0701 GMT on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026) with the peak of the event \u2014 when 96.2% of the lunar surface will appear reddish \u2014 happening at 0412 GMT. That translates to the following local times in North America:<\/p>\n

\"Space\"<\/p>\n

Eastern time: 12:12 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026Central time: 11:12 p.m. CDT on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026Mountain time: 10:12 p.m. MDT on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026Pacific time: 9:12 p.m. PDT on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026Alaska time: 8:12 p.m. AKDT on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026<\/p>\n

These are the times for maximum eclipse only. However, it’s worth looking at the moon about 39 minutes before these times to see the edge of Earth’s shadow inch across the lunar surface as the partial phase builds (and vice versa after maximum eclipse).<\/p>\n

What time is the August 2026 partial lunar eclipse in Europe?<\/p>\n

In Europe, the eclipse will occur early on Friday, Aug. 28, but it will set during the partial phase.<\/p>\n

Here’s when maximum eclipse will occur in various locations within Europe (further east of these locations, maximum eclipse is not visible):<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

London, U.K.: 5:12 a.m. BST on Aug. 28, 2026 (sunrise at 6:06 a.m. BST, moonset at 6:15 a.m. BST)Paris, France: 6:12 a.m. CEST on Aug. 28, 2026 (sunrise at 7:01 a.m. CEST, moonset at 7:09 a.m. CEST)Madrid, Spain: 6:12 a.m. CEST on Aug. 28, 2026 (sunrise at 7:38 a.m. CEST, moonset at 7:46 a.m. CEST)Brussels, Belgium: 6:12 a.m. CEST on Aug. 28, 2026 (sunrise at 6:49 a.m. CEST, moonset at 6:58 a.m. CEST)Berlin, Germany: 6:12 a.m. CEST on Aug. 28, 2026 (sunrise at 6:10 a.m. CEST, moonset at 6:17 a.m. CEST)<\/p>\n

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For some observers the partially eclipsed moon will be visible close to moonset. (Image credit: WW News via Getty Images)When is the next total lunar eclipse?<\/p>\n

Here are the dates and locations for upcoming total lunar eclipses:<\/p>\n

Dec. 31-Jan. 1, 2028-2029<\/a>: A total lunar eclipse will be visible from Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Northern and Western North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Arctic.June 25-26, 2029<\/a>: A total lunar eclipse will be visible from Europe, Western Asia, Africa, North America, South America, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and Antarctica.Dec. 20-21, 2029<\/a>: A total lunar eclipse will be visible from Europe, Asia, Northern and Western Australia, Africa, North America, South America, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the Arctic.Additional resources<\/p>\n

Want to look further ahead? You can find a concise summary of lunar eclipses out to 2026<\/a> here on Space.com. Read more about solar and lunar eclipses on EclipseWise.com<\/a>, a website dedicated to predictions of eclipses, and find beautiful maps on eclipse cartographer Michael Zeiler’s EclipseAtlas.com<\/a> and interactive Google Maps on Xavier Jubier’s<\/a> eclipse website. You can find climate and weather predictions by meteorologist Jay Anderson on eclipsophile.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/p>\n

Jubier, X. (n.d.). Lunar eclipses: Interactive Google Maps. Retrieved May 5, 2026, from http:\/\/xjubier.free.fr\/n\/site_pages\/Lunar_Eclipses.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Time and Date. (n.d.). Partial Lunar Eclipse on 28 Aug 2026: Map & Times. Retrieved May 5, 2026, from: https:\/\/www.timeanddate.com\/eclipse\/map\/2026-august-28<\/a><\/p>\n

Cameron Smith, I. Partial Lunar Eclipse of 28 Aug, 2026 AD. Retrieved May 5, 2026, from: https:\/\/moonblink.info\/Eclipse\/eclipse\/2026_08_28<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Aug. 27-28, 2026, a very deep partial lunar eclipse will be visible from Europe, Africa, North America…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49,48,66,306],"class_list":["post-716864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}