{"id":752415,"date":"2026-08-28T11:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T11:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/752415\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T11:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T11:20:09","slug":"blood-moon-2026-everything-you-need-to-know-about-fridays-lunar-eclipse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/752415\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood Moon 2026: Everything you need to know about Friday’s lunar eclipse"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the rare partial solar eclipse earlier this month, a lunar eclipse<\/a> will occur as we approach the end of the week.<\/p>\n

During the early hours of Friday the 28th, the moon will pass through Earth\u2019s shadow in a partial lunar eclipse.<\/p>\n

At this time, most of the Moon will be inside Earth\u2019s darkest shadow and may take on a striking pink, reddish or coppery colour – giving it the nickname, \u201cblood moon\u201d.<\/p>\n

When can we see it?<\/p>\n

This lunar eclipse will be visible across the UK, where skies remain clear.<\/p>\n

The partial eclipse begins at around 3.33am, reaching its peak at around 5.12am.<\/p>\n

The moon will be very low in the sky by then, so the best view will be towards the southwest. <\/p>\n

The best of the clearer skies will be through southern and southeastern counties into the Midlands.<\/p>\n

Remaining parts of the UK will be prone to more cloud cover.<\/p>\n

Unlike a solar eclipse, you do not need protective glasses to watch a lunar eclipse.<\/p>\n

The lunar eclipse will happen in the early hours of Friday 28. Credit: iStock<\/p>\n

Why is this called a Blood Moon?<\/p>\n

The name comes from the pink or copper tinge the Moon can develop during a lunar eclipse.<\/p>\n

As the Earth blocks direct sunlight from reaching the Moon, some sunlight passes through our atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Blue light is scattered, while red and orange light can reach the Moon, creating its distinctive pink or coppery glow.<\/p>\n

Why does the lunar eclipse happen and is it rare? <\/p>\n

A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth moves between the Sun and Moon, which means the Earth\u2019s shadow will fall across the Moon.<\/p>\n

Subscribe for free to our weekly newsletter <\/a>for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. <\/p>\n

The Moon\u2019s orbit is slightly tilted, so this doesn’t happen every month. When the Sun, Earth, and Moon line up correctly, an eclipse can occur.<\/p>\n

The next time the UK will experience a lunar eclipse will be on December 31 2028. <\/p>\n

Is it connected to the solar eclipse?<\/p>\n

Yes. The solar eclipse on August 12 and this lunar eclipse are part of the same “eclipse season” and have occurred around two weeks apart. <\/p>\n

During the solar eclipse, the Moon\u2019s shadow fell on Earth. This time, Earth\u2019s shadow will fall across the Moon.<\/p>\n

So, after seeing the Moon pass in front of the Sun earlier this month, the UK now has the chance to witness our planet eclipse the Moon. <\/p>\n

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know… <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the rare partial solar eclipse earlier this month, a lunar eclipse will occur as we approach the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-752415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-gb","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}