{"id":222168,"date":"2026-08-27T13:14:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/a-near-total-lunar-eclipse-will-be-visible-across-the-u-s-thursday-night-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T13:14:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:14:54","slug":"a-near-total-lunar-eclipse-will-be-visible-across-the-u-s-thursday-night-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/a-near-total-lunar-eclipse-will-be-visible-across-the-u-s-thursday-night-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"A near-total lunar eclipse will be visible across the U.S. Thursday night – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Two weeks after a total solar eclipse wowed skywatchers in southern Europe<\/a>, a near-total lunar eclipse is set to put on a show Thursday night for people across North and South America.
Lunar eclipses occur when Earth slips between the sun and the moon and casts a shadow on the lunar surface. During this week\u2019s event, nearly the entire moon \u2014 96.2% at the eclipse\u2019s peak \u2014 will be shrouded in Earth\u2019s shadow.
Weather permitting, skywatchers in the continental U.S. will have some of the best views. The eclipse will also be visible elsewhere in North America, South America, parts of Europe and Africa.
During the eclipse, Earth\u2019s shadow will appear reddish orange on the lunar surface because of the way Earth\u2019s atmosphere scatters light from the sun. That\u2019s why a total lunar eclipse is also known as a \u201cblood moon.\u201d
Thursday\u2019s eclipse will begin at 9:23 p.m. ET, when the moon first enters the outer part of Earth\u2019s shadow. The real action gets underway, however, at 10:33 p.m. ET, when Earth\u2019s shadow starts to envelop the lunar surface, appearing to take a \u201cbite\u201d out of the lunar disk.
The eclipse will peak at 12:12 a.m. ET, when more than 96% of the lunar surface <\/a>will be shrouded. The event will end at 3:01 a.m. ET when the moon exits the outer edge of Earth\u2019s shadow.
Most viewers in North and South America, except those in Alaska and the northernmost reaches of Canada, will have a chance to see every stage of the lunar eclipse. For those in Europe and Africa, however, the eclipse will begin early Friday, and the moon will set as the event is progressing.
Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses can be viewed safely with the naked eye, and skywatchers can use binoculars and telescopes to catch more dramatic views.
The lunar eclipse follows a total solar eclipse<\/a> \u2014 when the sun, the moon and Earth align, with the moon passing in front of the sun and blocking its light \u2014 that darkened skies in Spain, a small part of Portugal, Greenland, Iceland and northern Russia.
Solar and lunar eclipses usually come in pairs because of the fortuitous way the moon, Earth and sun interact. The three celestial bodies happen to align from our perspective on Earth because the sun is 400 times farther from Earth than the moon, while also being 400 times bigger. That makes them appear the same size in the sky.
Solar eclipses occur during the new moon phase. Typically around two weeks later, when the moon is on the other side of Earth from the sun, lunar eclipses occur during the full moon phase.
The next solar eclipse, on Feb. 6, will be visible in parts of South America and Africa. The next lunar eclipse will occur overnight from Feb. 20 to 21. It should be visible in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and Antarctica, according to NASA<\/a>.
Denise Chow is a science and space reporter for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeTwo weeks after a total solar eclipse wowed skywatchers in southern Europe, a near-total lunar eclipse is set to put on a show Thursday night for people across North and South America.Lunar eclipses occur when Earth slips between the sun and the moon and casts a shadow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}