On August 28, 2026 UTC (the evening of the 27th on the West Coast), the Moon passes into the shadow of Earth, creating a deep partial eclipse. At the moment of greatest eclipse, 4:13 a.m. Universal Time, 96.3% of the Moon’s disk is within Earth’s umbra, the central part of the shadow where the Sun is completely blocked by Earth. This part of the eclipse is visible in the Americas (except Alaska and northwestern Canada), western Europe and western Africa.

A world map showing where the eclipse is visible at different phases. Contours mark the boundary around the part of Earth where each phase is visible. The start of the partial phase, for example, is visible everywhere within the orange contour. The map is centered on 63°8'W, the sublunar point at greatest eclipse (the longitude where the Moon is highest in the sky). The eclipse can't be seen in the gray areas outside the contours.
A world map showing where the eclipse is visible at different phases. Contours mark the boundary around the part of Earth where each phase is visible. The start of the partial phase, for example, is visible everywhere within the orange contour. The map is centered on 63°8’W, the sublunar point at greatest eclipse (the longitude where the Moon is highest in the sky). The eclipse can’t be seen in the gray areas outside the contours. Credit: NASA’s Scientific VIsualization Studio – Ernie Wright

Timeline for West Coast Observers

Maximum Eclipse: 9:12 p.m. PDT
Partial Eclipse Begins: ~7:33 p.m. PDT (some areas may have moonrise just as it starts)
Partial Eclipse Ends: ~10:51 p.m. PDT

The Moon moves right to left through Earth’s penumbra and umbra shadows. At various times, a copy of the Moon is left behind along with its associated UTC time, and this forms a lunar eclipse diagram showing different stages of the eclipse.

The penumbra is the part of Earth’s shadow where the Sun is only partially covered by Earth. The effect of the penumbra on the Moon’s appearance is subtle. But after the partial phase begins, at 2:34 UTC (7:34 p.m. PDT on the night of the 27th), the umbra’s dramatic effect is easily visible as it takes an increasingly large bite out of the disk of the full Moon. Less than an hour later, the part of the Moon still in sunlight will be small enough for observers’ eyes to adapt to darkness and perceive the coppery color of the part of the Moon within the umbra. The visualizations here mimic this dark adaptation by increasing the apparent photographic exposure around the time of greatest eclipse.

This eclipse is a member of Saros 138. The eclipses in a given saros series are separated by 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours. The previous eclipse in this saros series occurred on August 16, 2008, and the next takes place on September 7, 2044.

A world map showing where the eclipse is visible at different phases. Contours mark the boundary around the part of Earth where each phase is visible. The start of the partial phase, for example, is visible everywhere within the orange contour. The map is centered on 63°8'W, the sublunar point at greatest eclipse (the longitude where the Moon is highest in the sky). The eclipse can't be seen in the gray areas outside the contours.
A world map showing where the eclipse is visible at different phases. Contours mark the boundary around the part of Earth where each phase is visible. The start of the partial phase, for example, is visible everywhere within the orange contour. The map is centered on 63°8’W, the sublunar point at greatest eclipse (the longitude where the Moon is highest in the sky). The eclipse can’t be seen in the gray areas outside the contours. Credit: NASA’s Scientific VIsualization Studio