Get Ready for the March 3, 2026, Predawn Total Lunar Eclipse

Contacts:

Edwin L. Aguirre, Associate Editor, Sky & Telescope
+1 617-500-6793 ×131, [email protected]

Meg Thacher, Associate Editor, Sky & Telescope
+1 202-328-2010 x22182, [email protected]

Susanna Kohler, Director of Communications and Media Relations, American Astronomical Society
+1 202-328-2010 ×127, [email protected]

Note to Editors/Producers: This release is accompanied by high-quality graphics; see the end of this release for the images and links to download.

On Tuesday, March 3rd, the full Moon glides through the darkest portion of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra, to create a dramatic total lunar eclipse. In the Western Hemisphere, the event occurs in the hours before dawn, while across Asia it happens during the evening.

During the eclipse, Earth's shadow is seen gradually edging across the face of the full Moon until the entire lunar disk glows deep orange or red. Then the sequence of events unfolds in reverse order, until the shadow leaves the lunar disk completely and the Moon returns to full brilliance.

Weather permitting, skywatchers in the western United States and Canada, Alaska, and Hawai‘i will have a ringside view to the entire show. But on the East Coast, the Moon sets while it’s still immersed in Earth’s umbral shadow — in fact, in the rapidly brightening morning twilight, it might be difficult to spot the Moon at all, hanging low in the western sky.

What to Watch Out For — and When

Unlike a total solar eclipse, which can only be seen from a long, narrow track across Earth's surface, a lunar eclipse can be watched from the entire nighttime hemisphere facing the Moon.

On March 3rd, the Moon first touches the pale, outer fringe of Earth’s shadow, called the penumbra, at 12:43 a.m. PST (3:43 a.m. EST; 8:43 UT), but this penumbral shading likely won’t be obvious to unaided eyes until roughly 30 to 45 minutes later. The main umbral event gets under way when the partial eclipse begins at 1:50 a.m. PST (4:50 a.m. EST). Greatest eclipse, when the Moon is deepest inside the umbra, occurs at 3:34 a.m. PST (6:34 a.m. EST). Totality lasts for a relatively brief 59 minutes, from 3:04 a.m. to 4:03 a.m. PST (6:04 a.m. to 7:03 a.m. EST). This means that those on the East Coast can (just barely) experience all of totality before the Moon sets. Those west of the Rocky Mountains can enjoy the waning partial eclipse until it concludes at 5:18 a.m. PST.

Eclipse phases by time zone on March 3, 2026

“You’ll only need your eyes to witness the spectacle unfold, though binoculars or a small backyard telescope will help to greatly enhance the view and make it enjoyable and memorable,” says S&T Associate Editor Edwin L. Aguirre.

In any case, during totality most of the Moon will likely glow some intense shade of orange or red — even though it’s fully immersed in the umbra.

“This reddish light comes from all the sunrises and sunsets around Earth's rim at that moment — sunlight that has skimmed through Earth's atmosphere and been refracted, or bent, by the atmosphere into the umbra,” explains S&T Associate Editor Meg Thacher.

For the March 3rd celestial coverup, the Moon plunges through the southern half of the umbra. This means the lower (or lower-right) edge of the Moon will remain distinctly brighter than the deep red that’s typically seen all across the Moon's eclipsed face.

It’s challenging to predict just how bright or dark the Moon will appear during totality. Two main factors affect the red umbral glow’s brightness and hue — how deeply the Moon passes through the umbra, and the clarity (or cloudiness) of Earth's atmosphere along the sunrise-sunset line. The closer the Moon passes through the umbra’s center, the darker the eclipse, and vice versa. If the air is very clear, the eclipse will appear bright. But if the stratosphere has recently been polluted with thin global haze of dust and aerosols from a major volcanic eruption, the eclipse can turn dark red, ashen brown, or occasionally almost black.

In addition, you might see subtle bluish tint on the lunar disk, especially near the umbra's edge. This color comes from sunlight that’s refracted through the clear, ozone-rich layer of Earth's upper atmosphere.

French astronomer André Danjon devised a five-point scale to describe the brightness and color of a lunar eclipse at totality, ranging from 0, when the Moon is practically invisible at totality, to 4, when it’s at its brightest copper-red or orange.

You can read more about the March 3rd total lunar eclipse on S&T's website and in the March 2026 issue of Sky & Telescope.

Looking Ahead

Two more eclipses will follow in 2026 — a total eclipse of the Sun on August 12th that’s visible from Greenland, Iceland, and Spain, and a very deep partial lunar eclipse on August 27–28 that favors North and South America.

If you miss the March 3rd event, it’ll be a long wait for viewers in the Western Hemisphere — the next total lunar eclipse won’t occur until New Year’s Eve 2028 (for Alaska and far-western Canada) and June 26, 2029 (for the rest of the Americas).  

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