{"id":608837,"date":"2026-07-28T20:58:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/608837\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T20:58:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:58:29","slug":"lunar-eclipse-set-to-transform-night-sky-in-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/608837\/","title":{"rendered":"Lunar eclipse set to transform night sky in August"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we wrap up these final days of July and head into August, one of the things that will be decreasing is the amount of daylight. But for folks interested in the night sky, that means more darkness to work with, and that brings some wonderful opportunities, including a partial lunar and, to a lesser extent, solar eclipse.<\/p>\n

August is when the night sky really gets interesting. The Perseids, the best meteor shower<\/a> of the year, continue to grow in intensity and peak on the night of Aug. 12, and this time the moon actually cooperates: it\u2019s new that same day, so skies will be dark enough to catch the show in full.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s predicted to have between 50 and 100 of these shooting stars per hour,\u201d said Francine Jackson, <\/b>staff astronomer at the Ladd Observatory at Brown University. \u201cMany watch this one more than any other because it\u2019s easy to lie on the grass, or on a chaise lounge, without worrying about dressing up like for an Arctic expedition.\u201d <\/p>\n

Aug. 12 is also the date of a total solar eclipse, though not for us much in North America. The path of totality sweeps through the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, and into northern Spain \u2014 the first total solar eclipse visible from mainland Europe in 27 years. Amazingly, the last one for mainland Europe was on Aug. 11, 1999. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, from New England, we\u2019ll only catch a partial eclipse, if anything at all. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe solar eclipse here in Southern New England will be about 14 percent, beginning about 1:02 p.m. (EDT),\u201d Jackson said. <\/b>She cautioned that \u201cthis cannot be observed with the naked eye. You must have eye protection to view it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis map shows where a total solar eclipse will be visible (red band) on Aug. 12 (in Greenland, Iceland, and Spain). The yellow lines across the map show where a partial eclipse will be visible, and percentages indicate the maximum area of the sun covered by the moon.NASA<\/p>\n

But hang on, because we do have an eclipse of our own late in August \u2014 the deep partial lunar eclipse. On the night of Aug. 27 into early Aug. 28, 96 percent of the moon\u2019s face will slide into Earth\u2019s shadow enough that the moon should take on that reddish \u201cblood moon\u201d glow at its peak, just after midnight. <\/p>\n

Jackson said it\u2019ll almost \u201cseem as if the moon has a \u2018polar cap.\u2019 It will begin to enter the Earth\u2019s major shadow, the umbra, at 10:33 p.m., with the most coverage at 12:12 a.m. before the moon leaves the umbra at 1:52 a.m.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Moon passes through the Earth\u2019s shadow, resulting in a lunar eclipse on March 3, 2026, as seen from the Philippines. During totality, the lunar disk transforms into a “blood moon,” as it bathes in the red-orange refracted light of every sunset and sunrise happening on Earth at that moment. Ezra Acayan\/Getty\"WhenWhen the Earth is between the sun and the moon, the Earth’s shadow causes a lunar eclipse.Boston Globe<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also the same night as the Sturgeon Moon, August\u2019s full moon, which peaks at 12:18 a.m. ET. Obviously, we won\u2019t know the weather for quite a while, but hopefully it cooperates so we get a chance to see this wonder of nature.<\/p>\n

\"AA digital composite showing the moon passing through the Earth\u2019s shadow, resulting in a lunar eclipse. Ezra Acayan\/Getty<\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t have to wait until August and the eclipses to enjoy what the wondrous night sky has to offer.<\/p>\n

In terms of planets, this last week in July offers something for night owls or morning people, if the weather cooperates once the storm moves through<\/a>. Venus dominates the evening, hanging bright in the west after sunset all month long. Jupiter, which was down with Venus early on, has been sinking lower by the day and will soon disappear into the sun\u2019s glare entirely. It will actually reemerge in the morning sky next month. <\/p>\n

For now, the morning belongs to Mars and Saturn, with Mars keeping its faint reddish cast low in the east before dawn, and Saturn rising a little earlier each night, climbing higher and higher until it\u2019s visible well before midnight by month\u2019s end. If you can get clear skies and somewhere dark, you\u2019ll actually be able to see the rings of Saturn.<\/p>\n

The moon will continue to wax, becoming full this Wednesday, although the cloudiness and rain will likely cover it up. This is called the Buck Moon, and the summer moon doesn\u2019t get very high in the sky. Instead, it tracks a path similar to where the sun sits in early winter, skimming low along the southern horizon rather than arcing overhead.<\/p>\n

\"PerseidsPerseids meteors streak over Sequoia National Forest in California in 2023.Preston Dyches\/NASA<\/p>\n

Also, two lesser-known meteor showers, the Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids, both peak on Thursday and Friday night (July 30-31). Normally that\u2019s a nice little preview of the Perseids to come, but the nearly full moon will wash out all but the brightest fireballs this year.<\/p>\n

So the next month or so gives us a bit of both the reliable and the rare. Venus, the moon phases, even the Perseids<\/a>. These show up every year, right on schedule. But a solar eclipse crossing into Europe, and a partial lunar eclipse (the latter of which we get to watch start to finish from our own backyard), those don\u2019t come around nearly as often. Get outside for both kinds!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we wrap up these final days of July and head into August, one of the things that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[582,442,27125,18,440,15532,789,32258,19,17,27886,10626,8953,432,28404,133,4722,56211,451,16187,16120],"class_list":["post-608837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-astronomy","tag-climate-change","tag-color-image","tag-eire","tag-environment","tag-environmental-damage","tag-horizontal","tag-human-interest","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lunar-eclipse","tag-moon","tag-philippines","tag-photography","tag-red","tag-science","tag-science-and-technology","tag-shadow","tag-space","tag-space-and-astronomy","tag-total-lunar-eclipse"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}