Deep partial lunar eclipse Aug. 27

A deep, partial lunar eclipse is expected to grace the skies over North Georgia on Thursday night, weather permitting of course.

All eclipses come in multiples, and this fall eclipse season is no different. Following the total solar eclipse that dazzled Europe on August 12th, a deep partial lunar eclipse is coming to North America on the overnight hours Thursday, August 27th into the morning of August 28th.

Lunar Eclipses

If you remember the deep, partial lunar eclipse of November 19, 2021 (seen above) this one is expected to be very similar. Though this eclipse won’t officially reach the total phase like our last lunar eclipse of March 25th, 2025, there won’t be a huge difference with most of the moon’s face headed for the deep coppery red color associated with lunar eclipses.

At maximum, around 12:14AM eastern time, some 96.3% of the lunar surface will be covered by the Earth’s umbra with the remaining 3.7% deep into the less dark penumbra. The result will be a deep red, coppery colored moon with just a sliver of silver on top. The red is caused by sunlight refracting through Earth’s atmosphere and still striking the surface of the moon. When this happens, you are viewing all the sunsets and sunrises in the world at once!

While you may have heard that the difference in a 99.9% and 100% solar eclipse is night

and day, the same cannot be said for a partial vs total lunar eclipse. The difference, while noticeable, isn’t nearly as big and is definitely still worth heading out late in the evening to overnight for. In fact, the sliver of light can almost create a near “diamond ring” type look.

When To Look

The eclipse will officially begin around 9:23PM eastern, but it will take a bit for the eclipse to be noticeable to the naked eye. The partial eclipse will begin at 10:33 p.m., with maximum eclipse coming at 12:13 a.m. The partial phase will then end at 1:51 a.m. with the moon moving out of the penumbra at 3:01 a.m. The shadow will appear to move from left to right across the surface with only the very edge remaining in fairly bright sunlight.

Weather may play spoiler

As happens far too often across the eastern US, the weather may play spoiler on Thursday night. Widespread clouds are likely during the evening hours across the entire southeast, but there is some confidence in at least a few breaks coming through the overnight hours, especially north of the higher elevations across Northeast Georgia over towards Northwest Georgia. While there is very little chance of the entire eclipse being uninterrupted, the moon’s location high in the sky will work in our favor since it will take a smaller break in the clouds to make it visible.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on the weather and keep you up to date on the latest!