Remember — Total lunar eclipse tonight:
Moon enters umbra, or dark central core of Earth’s shadow, marking the start of partial eclipse, at 1:09 a.m. EDT on Friday morning, March 14.
As more of the Moon is covered by Earth’s shadow in the next 1.3 hours, you’ll notice the shadow edge is an arc of a circle, and you’ll notice some color within the shadow. The reddish color is caused by sunlight passing through Earth’s atmosphere on its way toward the Moon. If the Earth had no atmosphere, no light would be refracted or bent into Earth’s shadow, and the Moon would be completely black during the eclipse. Reds dominate, because as sunlight passes through air, more of the colors at the violet/blue end of the spectrum are scattered out of the beam, leaving the longer wavelengths near the red end of the visible spectrum. It’s the same process that causes sunrises and sunsets to appear red, and clear daytime skies to appear blue!
Totality begins at 2:26 a.m.
Deepest eclipse, or middle of totality, when Moon is closest to center of Earth’s shadow and eclipsed Moon is likely to appear darkest, occurs at 2:59 am EDT on Friday morning, March 14. If you were on the Moon then, looking back at Earth, the dark side of Earth facing you would be surrounded by a thin, bright red ring, the Earth’s atmosphere.
Total eclipse ends at 3:32 am on Friday morning, March 14, as Moon begins to emerge from the umbra.
Partial eclipse ends at 4:48 am EDT, when Moon has completely emerged from the umbra.
If you want to devote just 20 minutes to watching the eclipse, I recommend the times around the beginning or end of totality, namely,
2:16-2:36 a
or
3:22-3:42 a
That’s because just before and after totality there will be a bright narrow edge of the Moon illuminated by direct sunlight, with most of the Moon is in shadow, allowing you to more easily notice any colors present. It should be very beautiful!
Of course, cloudiness may vary during the eclipse, and you’ll need to observe the eclipse when conditions allow.
Next chance to see a total lunar eclipse: Early morning hours of March 3, 2026, centered on 6:33 a.m. EST.
Later that year, there will be a deep partial lunar eclipse, 93 percent covered in shadow, on the night of Aug. 27-28, 2026, centered at 12:13 a.m. EDT.
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