Folks across North and South America, as well as parts of Europe and Africa, will have a front-row seat to a partial lunar eclipse on Aug. 27, painting the moon the color of a hot fireplace poker.
Unlike solar eclipses, you don’t need specially darkened glasses to protect your eyes. In this case, you can safely stare with the naked eye. And since the next true total lunar eclipse won’t happen for most of the Americas until 2029, this is your best chance to catch a major lunar light show for a few years.
But if you’re like this reporter and live in an area with perpetual city light pollution — or cloudy weather just happens to crash your viewing party plans — several telescope observatories will be hosting free livestreams to bring the magic to your screen.
During a lunar eclipse, the Earth slides between the sun and the moon, casting a giant shadow over the lunar surface. This upcoming event is especially thrilling because it is a “deep” partial eclipse.
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At its peak, Earth’s dark shadow will swallow almost all of it — over 96 percent of the lunar face. Instead of going completely dark, the moon will catch filtered sunlight from Earth’s atmosphere, glowing in coppery orange and red.
A lunar eclipse is sometimes called a blood moon because it reflects light filtered through Earth’s atmosphere.
Credit: Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific VIsualization Studio infographic
“It’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon,” according to NASA.
If you decide to step outside, grab a pair of binoculars to watch Earth’s curved shadow sweep across lunar craters. You might also notice more stars popping out in the night sky as the bright moonlight dims. A regular smartphone can easily snap a souvenir photo.
But if you want a closer look through professional equipment, or you happen to live somewhere outside the eclipse viewing zone, multiple astronomy groups have you covered. Here is a roundup of a few free live broadcasts you can tune into on the night of Aug. 27 and into the early morning of Aug. 28, depending on where in the world you live.
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Griffith Observatory: Broadcasting live from L.A., this observatory kicks off its livestream at 10:25 p.m. ET / 7:25 p.m. PT Aug. 27.
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The Virtual Telescope Project: Watch the moon glow over Tuscany. This feed features high-resolution telescope views starting at 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT Aug. 27.
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Timeanddate.com: Catch a real-time telescope feed with expert tracking animations and commentary, starting at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT Aug. 27.
The main event lasts well over an hour, giving you plenty of time to hop between streams and enjoy different telescope angles.
