August 2026 lunar eclipse - Misplaced Pages

Astronomical event

August 2026 lunar eclipse

Partial eclipse

The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left

Date

August 28, 2026

Gamma

−0.4694

Magnitude

0.9319

Saros cycle

138 (30 of 83)

Partiality

198 minutes, 7 seconds

Penumbral

337 minutes, 46 seconds

Contacts (UTC)
P1	1:23:55
U1	2:33:48
Greatest	4:12:49
U4	5:51:55
P4	7:01:41

← March 2026 February 2027 →

A partial lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Friday, August 28, 2026, with an umbral magnitude of 0.9319. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when one part of the Moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the other part is in the Earth's penumbra. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. Occurring about 6 days after perigee (on August 22, 2026, at 4:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.

This lunar eclipse will be the last of an almost tetrad, with the others being on March 14, 2025 (total); September 8, 2025 (total); and March 3, 2026 (total).

Visibility

The eclipse will be completely visible over North and South America, seen rising over the central Pacific Ocean and setting over Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

August 28, 2026 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	1.96645
Umbral Magnitude	0.93187
Gamma	0.49644
Sun Right Ascension	10h26m57.9s
Sun Declination	+09°42'52.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'50.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	22h26m06.3s
Moon Declination	-09°18'03.6"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'18.2"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°56'09.9"
ΔT	72.3 s

Eclipse season

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 2024–2027

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.

The penumbral lunar eclipse on July 18, 2027 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2024 to 2027
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
113	2024 Mar 25	Penumbral	1.0610	118	2024 Sep 18	Partial	−0.9792
123	2025 Mar 14	Total	0.3485	128	2025 Sep 07	Total	−0.2752
133	2026 Mar 03	Total	−0.3765	138	2026 Aug 28	Partial	0.4964
143	2027 Feb 20	Penumbral	−1.0480	148	2027 Aug 17	Penumbral	1.2797

Saros 138

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 138, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 82 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on October 15, 1521. It contains partial eclipses from June 24, 1918 through August 28, 2026; total eclipses from September 7, 2044 through June 8, 2495; and a second set of partial eclipses from June 19, 2513 through August 13, 2603. The series ends at member 82 as a penumbral eclipse on March 30, 2982.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 48 at 105 minutes, 24 seconds on March 24, 2369. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2369 Mar 24, lasting 105 minutes, 24 seconds.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1521 Oct 15	1918 Jun 24	2044 Sep 07	2116 Oct 21
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2441 May 06	2495 Jun 08	2603 Aug 13	2982 Mar 30

Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

Series members 17–38 occur between 1801 and 2200:
17	18	19
1810 Apr 19	1828 Apr 29	1846 May 11

20	21	22
1864 May 21	1882 Jun 01	1900 Jun 13

23	24	25
1918 Jun 24	1936 Jul 04	1954 Jul 16

26	27	28
1972 Jul 26	1990 Aug 06	2008 Aug 16

29	30	31
2026 Aug 28	2044 Sep 07	2062 Sep 18

32	33	34
2080 Sep 29	2098 Oct 10	2116 Oct 21

35	36	37
2134 Nov 02	2152 Nov 12	2170 Nov 23

38
2188 Dec 04

Metonic series

The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will be in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

1988 Mar 03.675 – Partial (113) 2007 Mar 03.972 – Total (123) 2026 Mar 03.481 – Total (133) 2045 Mar 03.320 – Penumbral (143)	1988 Aug 27.461 – partial (118) 2007 Aug 28.442 – total (128) 2026 Aug 28.175 – partial (138) 2045 Aug 27.578 – penumbral (148)

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 145.