Lunar Eclipses in 2026

There are two lunar eclipses in 2026.

The first is a total lunar eclipse on 3 March the headline event of the year, producing a blood moon visible across eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and the Americas. Totality lasts just under an hour. The second is a deep partial lunar eclipse on 28 August, visible from the Americas, Europe and Africa. At its peak, more than 93% of the Moon will be inside Earth’s umbral shadow the deepest kind of partial eclipse you can get without it tipping into a total.

If that doesn’t quite make sense, don’t worry. There’s a full, detailed guide later on in this article. Or click here to read it now.

But first, let’s look at the detail behind both of this year’s eclipses.

Discover the solar eclipses of 2026

Lunar Eclipses 2026

Total Lunar Eclipse | March 3, 2026

Eclipse Visibility: Eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and the Americas.

The headline event of 2026 is a total lunar eclipse a blood moon with totality lasting 58 minutes 58 seconds. The Moon passes completely through Earth’s umbral shadow, producing a deep red glow visible to the naked eye. The whole event from first penumbral contact to last spans 5 hours 39 minutes. The Moon is in the constellation Leo during this eclipse.

The best views will come from across the Pacific region, the western Americas, eastern Australia and eastern Asia, where the eclipse occurs during the overnight hours of 23 March (local time). Observers in eastern North America will see the eclipse in the early hours of 3 March before dawn.

Partial Lunar Eclipse | August 28, 2026

Eclipse Visibility: Eastern Pacific, the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

The second eclipse of 2026 is a very deep partial lunar eclipse. With an umbral magnitude of 0.93, more than 93% of the Moon will be inside Earth’s darkest shadow at maximum making this one of the most dramatic partial eclipses you can witness. The partial phase alone lasts 3 hours 18 minutes, and the Moon will appear noticeably darkened and reddened to the naked eye even without optical aid.

The eclipse is well placed for observers across the Americas, occurring during the night of 2728 August. European and African observers can catch it in the pre-dawn sky on 28 August, with greatest eclipse at 04:12 UT.

What is a Lunar Eclipse?

Eclipses occur when the Moon’s orbit places it between Earth and the Sun, an alignment called syzygy (pronounced SIZ-eh-gee). At times, the Moon passes through Earth’s shadow, i.e. the Earth falls directly between the moon and the sun. 

Since our planet blocks sunlight from landing on the moon, it causes a lunar eclipse. The only light coming from the moon during an eclipse is sunlight that passes through Earth’s atmosphere, hits the Moon’s surface and reflects back towards Earth.

This is why the Moon is much darker during an eclipse, and why it can appear red, as you’ll see in the ‘Blood Moon’ section, further down the page.

Lunar eclipses are visible from a much larger part of the globe than a solar eclipse. This is because Earth creates the shadow (the Moon creates the shadow which causes a solar eclipse) and its shadow is larger than the Moon. The Moon stays in the shadow for a long time, allowing more of Earth’s surface to witness the eclipse.

What Are the Different Types of Lunar Eclipses, and How Often Do They Occur?

There are three types of lunar eclipses: total, penumbral, and partial. The time period between two lunar eclipses can be 1, 5 or 6 synodic months.

A lunar eclipse only occurs when the moon is full, which is logical because the Sun needs to be behind the Earth, opposite the Moon, to cast a shadow on its surface. The Moon is full whenever the Sun is opposite it.

However, not every full moon results in an eclipse because the orbital plane of the Moon varies by about 5° from Earth’s. Sometimes the Moon is above Earth’s shadow and, other times, below it.

Astronomers recognize two kinds of shadows: the outer penumbra, where the Earth blocks only part of the Sun’s rays from reaching the moon, and the umbra, where the Earth shields the moon from all of the Sun’s rays.

Think of it from the perspective of standing on the lunar surface. If you are in the penumbra, the Earth blocks only some of the Sun from view. In the Umbra, our planet would stop you from seeing any part of the Sun.

Depending on how much of each of these two shadows falls on the lunar surface, three types of lunar eclipses can occur: Penumbral, Partial, and Total. Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

This occurs when the Moon, Earth and the Sun are imperfectly aligned such that the moon is only in Earth’s penumbra, and does not touch the darker umbra. 

These eclipses are hard to observe because the lunar surface is not drastically darkened unless it travels very near to the umbra.

The best way to think of a penumbral eclipse is to imagine yourself standing on the lunar surface when it happens. What you’ll see is Earth covering part of the sun. From your perspective, you’re witnessing a partial solar eclipse.

However, some sunlight is still shining on you, so the shadow is not very dark; this is the penumbral shadow.

Partial Lunar Eclipse

In a partial lunar eclipse, the Moon is at least partly covered by Earth’s umbral shadow. Using the same thought experiment as above, the umbral shadow is cast when Earth completely covers the sun from your perspective on the moon’s surface. You are, in effect, seeing a total solar eclipse.

This is why the umbral shadow is much darker on the lunar surface and much easier to observe with the naked eye – there is no sunlight landing where the umbral shadow is.

There are five partial lunar eclipses due in the 2020s. One of them is in September this year, the rest can be found in the table at the bottom of the page.

Total Lunar Eclipse

When all three celestial bodies are perfectly or near-perfectly aligned, the Moon moves completely into Earth’s umbra. No sunlight can make it directly to the lunar surface, causing a total lunar eclipse. Again, using the thought experiment from above, no matter where you are standing on the lunar surface, the sun is totally covered by Earth.

The entirety of the Moon passes through Earth’s shadow, casting it in complete darkness. Some sunlight, especially the red part, is scattered by Earth’s atmosphere and falls onto the moon, giving it a dim, often reddish, glow. 

Total lunar eclipses make up 35% of all lunar eclipses each year and are seen from any location on Earth approximately every 2.5 years.

What Causes a Blood Moon During An Eclipse?

A blood moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse when the moon is completely snuggled inside Earth’s umbral shadow. 

Sunlight passing through Earth’s atmosphere scatters through a process called Rayleigh scattering (similar to how the Sun is red during sunsets and sunrises). Red wavelengths are not scattered as much and pass right through Earth’s atmosphere and land on the moon. 

The moon then reflects this red color, which we see from Earth. This phenomenon is called a Blood Moon. Although widely used, Blood Moon is not a scientific term.

How to See a Lunar Eclipse

The good news is that you don’t need any special equipment to observe a lunar eclipse. So long as the full moon is visible from your location on eclipse night, you’ll be able to see it with the naked eye.

You can, of course, use binoculars or a beginner’s telescope (these links open our favorite choices in a new tab) to heighten your enjoyment of the experience. These will let you more closely track the progress of Earth’s shadow as it passes over the lunar landscape.

At their most extreme, Lunar eclipses can last almost four hours, with totality itself lasting more than 100 minutes.

How Often Do We See an Eclipse of the Moon?

Lunar eclipses are much more frequent than those of the Sun. There are approximately five lunar eclipses every two years somewhere on the Earth’s surface.

Any particular location can expect to see some kind of lunar eclipse at least annually because the Earth’s shadow, by definition, covers half the planet.

It is possible to have as many as five eclipses in a calendar year, but this is a rarity, happening just 35 times in 5000 years; the next one is in 2132.

Most years (71%) have two eclipses in them if we include all types of eclipses. If we only look at total lunar eclipses, the maximum number that can occur in one year is three. The last time this happened was 1982, and the next is due in 2485.

Lunar Eclipses for the Next 10 Years

This table shows all the lunar eclipses we expect to see over the decade. We will, of course, bring full details of each nearer the time.

Summary

Lunar eclipses give you a chance to watch the solar system at work right in front of your eyes; of the Moon around Earth and Earth around the sun.

What’s more, they are so easily viewed that they make a compelling introduction to astronomy for stargazers of all ages.