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March 2026 lunar eclipse

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March 2026 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
Totality from Sydney, Australia at 12:00 UTC
DateMarch 3, 2026
Gamma−0.3765
Magnitude1.1507
Saros cycle133 (27 of 71)
Totality58 minutes, 19 seconds
Partiality207 minutes, 10 seconds
Penumbral338 minutes, 37 seconds
Contacts (UTC)
P18:44:22
U19:50:00
U211:04:26
Greatest11:33:37
U312:02:45
U413:17:10
P414:22:59

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Tuesday, March 3, 2026,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.1507. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average, as it occurred 6.7 days after perigee (on February 24, 2026, at 18:15 UTC) and 6.9 days before apogee (on March 10, 2026, at 09:45 UTC).[2]

This lunar eclipse was the third of an almost tetrad, with the others being on March 14, 2025 (total); September 8, 2025 (total); and August 28, 2026 (partial).

During the eclipse, the Moon occulted NGC 3423 over North America. Deep-sky objects are rarely occulted during a total eclipse from any given spot on Earth.[3]: 161 

This eclipse fell on the Lantern Festival, the first since February 11, 2017.

Visibility

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The eclipse was completely visible over northeast Asia, northwestern North America, and the central Pacific Ocean, seen rising over much of Asia and Australia and setting over North and South America.[4]


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Eclipse details

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Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[5]

March 3, 2026 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Penumbral Magnitude 2.18580
Umbral Magnitude 1.15263
Gamma −0.37651
Sun Right Ascension 22h56m56.0s
Sun Declination −06°43'06.4"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'08.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9"
Moon Right Ascension 10h56m15.0s
Moon Declination +06°24'05.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'37.0"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'18.7"
ΔT 72.1 s

Eclipse season

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See also: Eclipse cycle

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.

Eclipse season of February–March 2026
February 17
Ascending node (new moon)
 March 3
Descending node (full moon)
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 121		 Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 133
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Eclipses in 2026

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Metonic

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Tzolkinex

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Half-Saros

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Tritos

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Lunar Saros 133

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Inex

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Triad

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Lunar eclipses of 2024–2027

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This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[6]

The penumbral lunar eclipse on July 18, 2027 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2024 to 2027

Metonic series

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The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will be in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

  1. 1988 Mar 03.675 – Partial (113)
  2. 2007 Mar 03.972 – Total (123)
  3. 2026 Mar 03.481 – Total (133)
  4. 2045 Mar 03.320 – Penumbral (143)
  1. 1988 Aug 27.461 – partial (118)
  2. 2007 Aug 28.442 – total (128)
  3. 2026 Aug 28.175 – partial (138)
  4. 2045 Aug 27.578 – penumbral (148)

Saros 133

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 133, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on May 13, 1557. It contains partial eclipses from August 7, 1683 through December 17, 1899; total eclipses from December 28, 1917 through August 3, 2278; and a second set of partial eclipses from August 14, 2296 through March 11, 2639. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on June 29, 2819.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 41 seconds on May 30, 2170. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[7]

Greatest First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2170 May 30, lasting 101 minutes, 41 seconds.[8] Penumbral Partial Total Central
1557 May 13
 1683 Aug 07
 1917 Dec 28
 2098 Apr 15
Last
Central Total Partial Penumbral
2224 Jul 01
 2278 Aug 03
 2639 Mar 11
 2819 Jun 29

Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

Tritos series

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This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200

Inex series

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This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200

Half-Saros cycle

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A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[9] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 140.

February 26, 2017 March 9, 2035

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "March 2–3, 2026 Total Lunar Eclipse (Blood Moon)". timeanddate. Archived from the original on 14 March 2025. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  3. ^ Meeus, Jan (2002). "Occultations of deep-sky objects during a total lunar eclipse". More Mathematical Astronomy Morsels (PDF). Willmann-Bell. pp. 157–162. ISBN 0943396743. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-04-05. Retrieved 2025-02-21.
  4. ^ "Total Lunar Eclipse of 2026 Mar 03" (PDF). NASA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 March 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  5. ^ "Total Lunar Eclipse of 2026 Mar 03". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  6. ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  7. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Lunar Eclipses of Saros 133". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
  8. ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 133
  9. ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
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