Overview
- The eclipse runs overnight Thursday into Friday, with penumbral contact around 9:23 p.m. EDT (01:23 UTC), the umbral partial phase beginning near 10:33 p.m. EDT (02:33 UTC), greatest eclipse at about 12:12 a.m. EDT (04:12 UTC), and umbral exit around 1:51 a.m. EDT (05:51 UTC).
- At maximum roughly 96% of the Moon’s visible disk will lie inside Earth’s umbra, leaving only a thin sunlit crescent while the rest of the surface takes on reddish‑copper tones produced by sunlight refracted through Earth’s atmosphere.
- All or most of North and South America will be able to see the full event, while parts of Europe, the UK and Africa will catch early or mid phases before the Moon sets low on the horizon, so local moonset and weather will decide what observers actually see.
- The eclipse is safe to view with the naked eye and will look better through binoculars or a small telescope; museums, observatories and projects such as the Virtual Telescope Project are planning live streams and public viewing events to widen access.
- The lunar event follows the Aug. 12 solar eclipse and closes an active month of sky events, and astronomers note this deep partial is the most dramatic partial visible for many regions until comparable eclipses in the 2028–2029 period.