It might not be as dramatic as a complete photo voltaic eclipse, however there’s one thing equally epic about watching Earth’s shadow steadily engulfing and coloring the moon throughout a complete lunar eclipse. The subsequent complete lunar eclipse — colloquially known as a “blood moon” — will happen on Sept. 7-8, 2025, but it surely will not be one other 177 days till the phenomenon is seen from elements of North America, on March 2-3, 2026.
An eclipse of the moon is a worldwide occasion, taking place at a selected time, and solely these on the evening facet of Earth see it. On Sept. 7-8, North America will not be on the evening facet, with prime visibility restricted to Africa, India, China and Australia. Western Europe will get a glimpse of the occasion at moonrise, however principally misses out on the occasion, too. That is a disgrace as a result of the Sept.7-8 complete lunar eclipse will see the lunar floor flip reddish for 82 minutes, simply because it did on March 13-14, 2025, when moongazers in North America have been in prime place for some spectacular pictures.
Nevertheless, precisely one lunar yr — 354 days (12 orbits of the moon round Earth) — later, one other complete lunar eclipse can be seen from North America. The subsequent blood moon seen from North America can be in a single day on March 2-3, 2026, when the lunar floor will flip reddish for 58 minutes. It will likely be seen from North America, Australia and East Asia, although the epicenter would be the Pacific Ocean.
It is a case of the farther west you’re in North America, the higher view you will get. In actual fact, skywatchers in New York will see solely a brief totality on the moonset on March 3. Even within the Midwest, totality takes place near the moonset, with solely these west of Kansas seeing totality larger within the sky. That is essential as a result of the moon tends to glow orange when it is near the horizon anyway, so the redness of totality loses its influence when it happens near the horizon.
Though the West Coast — California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska within the U.S., and British Columbia in Canada — will get to see all levels of the eclipse excessive within the sky, arguably the very best locations can be these with reliably clear skies. In March, your finest chances are high the desert southwest (the southern areas of California, Arizona and New Mexico) and Hawaii, based on knowledge from Time and Date.
The March 2-3, 2026 complete lunar eclipse is the third of three in a row inside one lunar yr. Complete lunar eclipses — which all the time happen throughout a full moon — usually arrive in triads, accompanied by at the very least one photo voltaic eclipse two weeks earlier than and/or after. On this case, it is preceded by an annular photo voltaic eclipse brought on by a new moon on Feb. 17, 2026, throughout which 96% of the solar‘s disk can be blocked by the moon for as much as 2 minutes 20 seconds — however solely as seen from Antarctica.
