Lunar eclipses
Every lunar eclipse from 2025 through 2029 — 11 of them, 6 total. Each one is computed, not copied from a list, and each page converts the times to your own clock.
Partial lunar eclipse
August 28, 2026 · greatest eclipse 04:13 UTC
Part of the moon enters the Earth's umbra, taking a visible dark bite out of the disc; the rest stays in the fainter penumbra.
2025
Total lunar eclipse · 1 h 04 min of totality06:59 UTC
Total lunar eclipse · 1 h 21 min of totality18:12 UTC
2026
Total lunar eclipse · 57 min of totality11:34 UTC
Partial lunar eclipse04:13 UTC
2027
Penumbral lunar eclipse23:12 UTC
Penumbral lunar eclipse07:14 UTC
2028
Partial lunar eclipse04:13 UTC
Partial lunar eclipse18:20 UTC
Total lunar eclipse · 1 h 11 min of totality16:51 UTC
2029
Total lunar eclipse · 1 h 41 min of totality03:22 UTC
Total lunar eclipse · 53 min of totality22:42 UTC
Why they don't happen every month
A lunar eclipse needs the sun, Earth and moon in a straight line, which sounds like every full moon — and would be, if the moon's orbit lay flat. It is tilted about five degrees, so most full moons pass above or below the Earth's shadow and nothing happens. Only when a full moon falls near one of the two points where the tilted orbit crosses the Earth's own orbital plane does the shadow actually reach it.
That is why they arrive in a rhythm rather than at random: a handful a year, clustered about six months apart, with total eclipses rarer than partial ones and partial rarer than penumbral.
The three kinds
Total. The moon passes entirely into the Earth's umbra — the dark core of the shadow — and turns a deep copper red.
Partial. Part of the moon enters the Earth's umbra, taking a visible dark bite out of the disc; the rest stays in the fainter penumbra.
Penumbral. The moon passes only through the penumbra, the soft outer shadow. The disc dims slightly on one side and never darkens sharply — the subtlest kind, and easy to miss.
What is a lunar eclipse?
The Earth passing directly between the sun and the moon, so the moon moves through the Earth's shadow. It can only happen at a full moon, and only when that full moon is near one of the two points where the moon's tilted orbit crosses the Earth's — which is why there are a handful a year rather than one a month.
Why does the moon turn red?
The Earth's atmosphere bends some sunlight around the planet and into the shadow, and scatters the blue out of it on the way — the same physics that makes a sunset red. What reaches the moon during totality is the light of every sunrise and sunset on Earth at once.
Do I need a telescope, or eye protection?
Neither. A lunar eclipse is safe to look at with bare eyes — you are looking at the moon, not the sun — and binoculars help but nothing is required. This is the opposite of a solar eclipse, which is never safe to look at unaided.
Will I be able to see it from where I live?
If the moon is above your horizon at the time, yes — a lunar eclipse is visible to the entire night side of the Earth at once, with no narrow path. Each eclipse page below converts the times to your own zone and tells you whether the moon is up for you.
Why are the times the same everywhere?
Because the shadow falls on the moon, not on you. The moon enters the umbra at one instant for the whole planet; only the clock reading differs, and only because your time zone does.
How are these dates worked out?
They are computed, not listed — the same periodic-term method this site uses for the moon phases, extended to solve for the geometry of each eclipse. The method, and its limits, are set out on the methodology pages.
More moon
Moon phase today · Moon calendar · Full moon calendar · Supermoons · Blue moons
These dates are solved with the same periodic-term method the moon phases use — see how the moon phase is calculated. Solar eclipses are deliberately not listed: they are only visible along a narrow track, and a date without that track is not useful.