Total lunar eclipses through 2060

Every total lunar eclipse

Total lunar eclipses, October 19, 2026 to 2060
Date	Greatest eclipse	Totality	Partial phases	Umbral magnitude	Saros	Moon overhead at
December 31, 2028	16:51 UTC	71 min	209 min	1.246	125	23N 108E
June 26, 2029	03:22 UTC	102 min	220 min	1.844	130	23S 50W
December 20, 2029	22:41 UTC	54 min	213 min	1.117	135	23N 19E
April 25, 2032	15:13 UTC	66 min	211 min	1.191	122	14S 131E
October 18, 2032	19:02 UTC	47 min	196 min	1.103	127	10N 71E
April 14, 2033	19:12 UTC	49 min	215 min	1.094	132	9S 72E
October 8, 2033	10:55 UTC	79 min	202 min	1.350	137	6N 167W
February 11, 2036	22:11 UTC	74 min	202 min	1.300	124	14N 31E
August 7, 2036	02:51 UTC	95 min	231 min	1.454	129	16S 41W
January 31, 2037	14:00 UTC	64 min	198 min	1.207	134	18N 153E
May 26, 2040	11:44 UTC	92 min	211 min	1.535	131	21S 177W
November 18, 2040	19:03 UTC	88 min	220 min	1.397	136	20N 70E
March 25, 2043	14:30 UTC	53 min	215 min	1.114	123	2S 144E
September 19, 2043	01:50 UTC	72 min	206 min	1.256	128	2S 29W
March 13, 2044	19:37 UTC	66 min	209 min	1.203	133	2N 68E
September 7, 2044	11:19 UTC	34 min	206 min	1.046	138	5S 171W
January 12, 2047	01:24 UTC	70 min	209 min	1.234	125	22N 19W
July 7, 2047	10:34 UTC	101 min	218 min	1.751	130	23S 157W
January 1, 2048	06:52 UTC	56 min	214 min	1.128	135	23N 102W
May 6, 2050	22:30 UTC	43 min	206 min	1.077	122	17S 21E
October 30, 2050	03:20 UTC	34 min	193 min	1.054	127	14N 54W
April 26, 2051	02:14 UTC	70 min	221 min	1.202	132	13S 34W
October 19, 2051	19:10 UTC	84 min	204 min	1.412	137	10N 69E
February 22, 2054	06:49 UTC	72 min	201 min	1.277	124	10N 99W
August 18, 2054	09:24 UTC	83 min	226 min	1.306	129	13S 140W
February 11, 2055	22:44 UTC	66 min	198 min	1.225	134	14N 22E
June 6, 2058	19:13 UTC	97 min	213 min	1.661	131	23S 71E
November 30, 2058	03:14 UTC	90 min	221 min	1.426	136	22N 52W

Partial phases is the whole time any part of the Moon is inside the dark core of Earth's shadow, including totality. Saros is the number of the family of eclipses the event belongs to.

What you will see

In a total lunar eclipse the Moon goes through three stages. It dims in the pale outer shadow, a dark bite then spreads across it, and in totality the whole Moon sits inside the umbra and glows a dim red. Totality in this list runs from 34 min to 102 min. Unlike a solar eclipse, it's safe to watch with your eyes, and everyone on the night side of Earth where the Moon is up can see it.

Why the Moon turns red

A total lunar eclipse doesn't make the Moon vanish. Earth's atmosphere bends some sunlight around the planet and onto the Moon, and as it passes through the air it loses most of its blue and keeps the red. The light that reaches the Moon is, in effect, every sunrise and sunset on Earth at once.

That's why no two eclipses look the same. A Moon that sits near the middle of Earth's shadow gets less of that light than one clipping the edge, and clouds, dust and volcanic haze in our air can darken the glow further. The eclipse in this list with the deepest pass through the shadow is on June 26, 2029, with an umbral magnitude of 1.84, and the briefest total one in 2001 to 2100 (April 4, 2015) grazed the shadow for only 5 minutes.

A five-step scale for the color

In the twentieth century the French astronomer Andre Danjon devised a scale from L0 to L4 to describe how an eclipsed Moon looks, and observers still use it, according to NASA's eclipse site. L0 is a very dark eclipse, with the Moon almost invisible at mid-totality. L2 is a deep red or rust color with a dark center. L4 is a bright copper-red or orange with a bluish rim to the shadow.

You can use it as a game. Note the time, look at the Moon with your eyes and then through binoculars, and give it a number. The ratings won't match from one observer to the next, but they'll show you how much the same eclipse changes through totality as the Moon crosses the shadow.

The night Columbus used one

An eclipse once helped to save a crew. Christopher Columbus and his men had been stranded on Jamaica since June 25, 1503, and by early 1504 the islanders had grown unwilling to keep feeding them. According to accounts of the voyage, Columbus had an almanac that predicted a lunar eclipse on the evening of February 29, 1504, and he warned the islanders that his god was angry with them. When the Moon rose red, they came back with food.

A rescue ship didn't arrive until June 29, 1504, but the eclipse had kept the crew fed in the meantime. The story lasts because it shows what a reliable prediction was worth.

How long you get

There are 28 total lunar eclipses in the list above. The longest totality in the list is 1 hour 42 minutes on June 26, 2029, and the shortest is 34 minutes on September 7, 2044. Totality reaches an hour or more in 20 of the 28. With the partial phases on either side included, the longest of them keeps part of the Moon inside the dark shadow for about 3.7 hours.

Over the whole century the range is wider: from 4.7 minutes on April 4, 2015 to 1 hour 43 minutes on July 27, 2018. A total lunar eclipse is long because Earth's shadow at the Moon's distance is more than two and a half times the Moon's width, so the Moon takes a good while to cross it.

What it takes to watch

You need no equipment. A lunar eclipse is safe to look at, and everything you see is faint sunlight on a distant rock. Binoculars show the edge of the shadow and more color, and a telescope on a steady mount gives crater detail near the shadow's edge. A camera on a tripod works well, but the Moon is far dimmer in totality than at full Moon, so it needs much longer exposures than you would normally use.

The only real planning is the weather and the Moon's height. The next total eclipse is on December 31, 2028, and the list above says where the Moon is overhead, but what you see also depends on your own horizon. The next lunar eclipse page shows how high the Moon stands from eight large cities at greatest eclipse.

The Moon seen from the Moon

A lunar eclipse looks different from the Moon itself. On April 24, 1967, NASA's Surveyor 3 lander, sitting on the Moon, photographed Earth passing in front of the Sun, which is what an eclipse looks like from the Moon's surface. The planet's atmosphere shows up as a thin ring of light. A total lunar eclipse in our sky is a solar eclipse in the Moon's, as the solar and lunar eclipse comparison explains.

The eclipse seasons page explains why lunar eclipses cluster in pairs with solar ones. Eclipses also taught people the shape of their own planet. The Greek philosopher Aristotle argued that the curved edge of Earth's shadow on the Moon during an eclipse showed that Earth is round. In this century's catalog, 85 of the 228 lunar eclipses are total.