Skywatchers across North and South America are preparing for a deep partial lunar eclipse late Thursday night, August 27. Up to 96 percent of the moon will fall into Earth’s shadow, turning a rusty copper color just minutes before the August full moon peaks in brightness.
August is delivering its final celestial spectacle this week as Earth slips directly between the sun and the moon. The upcoming event follows closely behind a total solar eclipse that dazzled Europe and was seen over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain on August 12. While that daytime solar show largely shut out observers in the Americas, the nightside of Earth is in prime position for Thursday’s lunar alignment. Eclipses always travel in pairs as the sun, moon, and Earth align so precisely that one obscures the other.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Now it’s the moon’s turn to pull a disappearing act. After the Americas were shut out of this month’s total solar eclipse, we’ll have the best seats in the celestial house when Earth’s shadow briefly envelops the moon. Almost the entire lunar surface will be masked Thursday night into Friday — a whopping 96% — making this an especially deep partial eclipse. In this case, Earth will pass between the moon and the sun, casting a reddish-orange shadow onto the moon. Because this is a partial eclipse, the lineup won’t be perfect and it won’t be a true blood moon. The partial phase of the eclipse will last more than three hours. But the entire eclipse, from the time the full moon enters the faintest, outermost edge of Earth’s shadow until it leaves, will stretch 5 ½ hours. Pacific time. The moon is already in the spotlight. NASA sent the Artemis II astronauts on a record-breaking lunar flyby in April, the prelude to eventually landing on the surface and building a base swarming with people and robots over the next several years. This is a great time to be part of the space program, right? We’re not slowing down,
NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway told the Associated Press from the International Space Station last week. Exact Timing and Visibility Across the Americas
The celestial alignment begins late Thursday evening, August 27, and stretches into the early morning hours of Friday, August 28. Observers throughout North and South America, along with all of Africa and Europe seeing at least part of the action, will have front-row seats. In the U.S., the Moon rises around 7:30 P.M. local daylight time on the 27th, located in Aquarius the Water-bearer.
Eastern time zone
For viewers in the Eastern time zone, the subtle penumbral shading begins around 9:24 pm Eastern time on the 27th. The real event, the partial phase, starts at 10:34 pm, when the curved edge of Earth’s dark inner shadow, the umbra, takes its first visible bite out of the Moon. Per Time and Date, the eclipse begins at 9:23 p.m. ET and lasts until 3:01 a.m. ET, for a total of about 5 and a half hours. The Old Farmer’s Almanac reports that August’s full moon peaks in brightness at 12:18 a.m. ET on Friday, which means this is all happening at the same time. The shadow advances for the next hour and a half until maximum eclipse at 12:12 am Eastern, when 96.3 percent of the disk is immersed and the Moon hangs copper-red in the sky. The shadow then slides off, with the partial phase ending at 1:52 am and the whole affair over by 3 am. ET12:13 a.m. ET1:51 a.m. ETCentral9:33 p.m. CT11:12 p.m. CT12:51 a.m. CTMountain8:33 p.m. MT10:12 p.m. MT11:51 p.m. MTPacific7:33 p.m. PT9:12 p.m. PT10:51 p.m. PT
Why the Moon Glows Copper Without Reaching Totality
Although roughly 96 percent of the lunar disc will be submerged inside Earth’s inner shadow, a thin slice of the Moon’s southern edge stays out of the deepest shadow, which is the only thing separating this event from a total eclipse. Because that final slice stays outside the umbra, the event is technically classified as a partial eclipse rather than a total lunar eclipse. NASA says that about 93% of the moon will be covered, which means you’ll still see a sliver of the moon along with a rusty, coppery tint
along the edge that’s covered, while Time and Date bumps that figure up to 96%. That nearly complete coverage creates a striking effect. Only a thin sliver along the Moon’s northeastern limb will remain bright white, while the rest of our satellite will appear a dim, dusky orange or red. The red is caused by sunlight refracting through Earth’s atmosphere and still striking the surface of the moon. When this happens, you are viewing all the sunsets and sunrises in the world at once! Credit: NASA. Weather Outlook and Viewing Recommendations
Unlike solar eclipses, which can be dangerous to view, a lunar eclipse is perfectly safe to watch with the naked eye. Lunar eclipses are not like solar eclipses — they proceed slowly and can be viewed without any equipment or eye protection at all, making them readily accessible and enjoyable. There’s no rush to catch only a few minutes of action, either, as the Moon slides slowly into and out of Earth’s shadow, its appearance changing the whole time.
November 19, 2021
Weather permitting, the full Moon over the Americas is going to do something it will not do again for more than two years. Following the deep, partial lunar eclipse of November 19, 2021, this one is expected to be very similar. Though this eclipse won’t officially reach the total phase like our last lunar eclipse of March 25, 2025, there won’t be a huge difference with most of the moon’s face headed for the deep coppery red color associated with lunar eclipses. While you may have heard that the difference in a 99.9% and 100% solar eclipse is night and day, the same cannot be said for a partial vs total lunar eclipse. The difference, while noticeable, isn’t nearly as big and is definitely still worth heading out late in the evening to overnight for.
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