Monday, March 02, 2026

How to Watch Lunar Eclipses | NASA

How to Watch Lunar Eclipses | NASA

Viewing a total lunar eclipse is as easy as looking up! Lunar eclipses are completely eye-safe, unlike solar eclipses. Feel free to enjoy this lunar eclipse with your naked eye!

We know space fans want to get the most out of seeing the Moon turn red, so we asked a lunar scientist for tips. This is our breakdown of how to enjoy the eclipse, reaching totality 6:04 a.m. Eastern Time/3:04 a.m. Pacific Time tomorrow morning. ⬇️

On March 3, 2025, the Moon enters the Earth's shadow, creating a total lunar eclipse, the first visible in the Americas since March 2025. This animation shows the changing appearance of the Moon as it travels into and out of the Earth's shadow, along with times at various stages. Celestial north is up in this imagery, corresponding to the view from mid-northern latitudes. Rotating the images by 180 degrees would create the south-up view for southern hemisphere observers.

The penumbra is the part of the Earth’s shadow where the Sun is only partially covered by the Earth. The umbra is where the Sun is completely hidden. The Moon's appearance is not affected much by the penumbra. The real action begins when the Moon starts to disappear as it enters the umbra at about 1:50 a.m. Pacific Sstandard Time. An hour and a half later, entirely within the umbra, the Moon is a ghostly copper color. The totally eclipsed Moon is 10 or more f-stops dimmer than a normal full Moon. This is captured in the animation by simulating an abrupt change of exposure near the start and end of totality. Totality lasts for about an hour before the Moon begins to emerge from the central shadow. During the eclipse, the Moon is moving through the constellation Leo.


Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Duration: 28 seconds
Release Date: March 2, 2026

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #SolarSystem #Moon #Earth #LunarEclipse #Umbra #Penumbra #NASAGoddard #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

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