{"id":581800,"date":"2026-08-27T09:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T09:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/581800\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T09:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T09:28:08","slug":"the-sky-today-on-thursday-august-27-a-deep-partial-lunar-eclipse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/581800\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sky Today on\u00a0Thursday, August 27: A deep partial lunar eclipse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tBack to Article List\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tMinutes before reaching Full, the Moon is eclipsed this evening in a lovely event visible across the U.S. \t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lunar-eclipse_7a973f.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"A photograph of a total lunar eclipse showing the Moon glowing in deep red and crimson hues \u2014 a blood moon \u2014 against a black sky. The Moon's surface features, including its darker maria regions, are still faintly visible through the red coloration. A thin sliver of brighter bluish-white light is visible along the upper edge, suggesting the Moon is just beginning to exit or enter Earth's umbral shadow.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tDuring a deep partial eclipse, the majority \u2014 but not quite all \u2014 of the Moon passes through Earth\u2019s umbra, the darkest part of our planet\u2019s shadow.<br \/>\nCredit: <a href=\"https:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/157332296@N07\/54386633541\/in\/photolist-2nmEedE-2mKJu7C-2kcoxk2-2id54Du-2gAmVaR-2mKFB5F-zaaX9C-2nkSDqu-2m1JqXe-yUanJA-2gBwGuL-2svmZDA-2mKFD2m-EvynrH-2qh1UGZ-Cc2S5-2qRXHmi-2nYExTc-mWUqY-WgVmW4-22km5cG-2gAJivB-2m22amL-5dUV6g-9U45c9-2hzWAgk-2bu5Rsc-2nuUgiB-2gAmHt4-2qh4kf2-2gAx2Eu-2mKHH26-2jicMhY-n9Y2mT-9U47mC-piJd9Y-2gAHKGL-2nkw1t3-FPFQRU-2nm7jo1-Wc6LdW-ee6Bze-pihe2c-7uVghr-2nYgBzz-aTgQki-za9sbA-EiuwnP-Wgbiyu-yfgP6M\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gene Ellison (Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.astronomy.com\/observing\/the-sky-this-week-from-august-21-to-28-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sky This Week<\/a>\u00a0column.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">August 26: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.astronomy.com\/observing\/the-sky-today-wednesday-august-26-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Catch Barnard\u2019s star<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">A partial eclipse of the Moon occurs tonight, following August 12th\u2019s total eclipse of the Sun. The deep lunar eclipse is visible across North and South America, Africa, and western Europe. The Moon rises around 7:30 P.M. local daylight time, located in Aquarius the Water-bearer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The eclipse begins at 9:23 P.M. EDT, as the Moon first enters the outer part of Earth\u2019s shadow, the penumbra. But the real visual effects really start at 10:33 P.M. EDT, when the Moon first passes into the umbra \u2014 the darker, inner portion of our planet\u2019s shadow \u2014 and the partial eclipse begins. This means the start of the partial eclipse is visible in the eastern half of the U.S., while the Moon is eclipsed shortly after rising in the Mountain time zone and right around the time of moonrise along the West Coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The eclipse continues overnight for the eastern half of the U.S. Maximum eclipse occurs at 12:13 A.M. EDT on the 28th (in the Eastern time zone only for the U.S.), with 96%\u00a0of our satellite\u2019s total area covered by Earth\u2019s inner shadow. Only a thin sliver along the Moon\u2019s northeastern limb will remain bright white, while the rest of our satellite will appear a dim, dusky orange or red.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The August Full Moon officially occurs at 12:19 A.M. EDT on August 28, just minutes after maximum eclipse. August\u2019s Full Moon is also called the Sturgeon Moon, after the plentiful lake fish Native Americans relied on as a food source during this time of the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The partial eclipse ends at 1:51 A.M. EDT (the 28th in the Eastern and Central time zones only) as the Moon exits the darker, inner part of Earth\u2019s shadow, and the eclipse ends completely just before 3:02 AM EDT on August 28, when our satellite slips completely free of the outer portion of Earth\u2019s shadow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lunar eclipses are not like solar eclipses \u2014 they proceed slowly and can be viewed without any equipment or eye protection at all, making them readily accessible and enjoyable. There\u2019s no rush to catch only a few minutes of action, either, as the Moon slides slowly into and out of Earth\u2019s shadow, its appearance changing the whole time. You can opt to catch just part or all of the event, checking on its progress every few minutes without worry you\u2019ll miss a vital moment. If you do choose to view for only a short while, try to make it around the time of maximum eclipse, as this is when the Moon will appear most dramatic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sunrise: 6:23 A.M.<br \/>Sunset: 7:39 P.M.<br \/>Moonrise: 7:29 P.M.<br \/>Moonset: 5:43 A.M.<br \/>Moon Phase: Full<br \/>*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40\u00b0 N 90\u00b0 W. The Moon\u2019s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alison Klesman\u00a0is senior editor of\u00a0Astronomy\u00a0magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in astronomy and has studied a variety of topics, from minor planets to supermassive black holes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back to Article List Minutes before reaching Full, the Moon is eclipsed this evening in a lovely event&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[111,139,69,12839,147,62517],"class_list":["post-581800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-observing","tag-science","tag-sky-tonight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}