The moon will put on a show this Thursday night. A partial lunar eclipse starts on the night of Thursday, August 27, and runs into the early hours of Friday.
We are lucky this go round. Every stage will be visible from Columbus, and at the peak Earth’s shadow will cover about 93 percent of the moon.
What’s happening up there
A lunar eclipse happens when Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon and throws its shadow across the lunar surface. This one stops just short of total. A thin sliver of the moon stays outside the darkest part of the shadow, while the covered portion picks up the coppery red color that gives total eclipses the blood moon nickname. Close enough to be worth losing a little sleep over.
When to look up
The timings below come from NASA’s eclipse predictions, localized for Columbus. The main event runs from 10:33 p.m. Thursday to 1:51 a.m. Friday.
- 9:23 p.m. Thursday: The penumbral eclipse begins and the moon starts to dim, though the change is subtle at first.
- 10:33 p.m.: The partial eclipse begins as Earth’s darker inner shadow starts moving across the moon.
- 12:12 a.m. Friday: Maximum eclipse. About 93 percent of the moon sits in shadow.
- 1:51 a.m.: The partial eclipse ends.
- 3:01 a.m.: The penumbral eclipse ends and the moon returns to full brightness.
From the first dimming to the last, the whole event lasts 5 hours and 38 minutes. Anyone who just wants the highlight should aim for the hour around midnight.
Will the weather cooperate?
As of now, it looks that way. The National Weather Service forecast for Thursday night calls for partly cloudy skies with a low around 65, and the chance of rain sits at 11 percent. Those are decent viewing odds, though partly cloudy means some cloud cover is likely at times, so the view could come and go.
How to watch
No equipment is required, and unlike a solar eclipse, this one is safe to look at directly. An open view of the sky matters more than a perfect location. Binoculars or a telescope will sharpen the detail, but the naked eye will do fine.
One more reason to stay up: the calendar. The only lunar eclipses visible from Columbus in 2027 are faint penumbral events that most people never notice, and the next partial eclipse here won’t be here until January 2028.
