In a partial lunar eclipse only a part of the Moon enters the dark core of the Earth’s shadow, and the rest stays in the lighter outer shade. On 28 August 2026 the part was large: the dark shadow reached across 93 per cent of the Moon’s width at its deepest, so the Moon looked as if a large, dark bite had been taken out of one side. The bitten part is often a deep brown or grey, and the other side stays bright, a striking contrast through binoculars.
The stages
The Moon first touched the faint outer shadow at about 01:24 UT. The dark bite began at 02:34 UT and was at its deepest at 04:12 UT, then it grew smaller, and the Moon left the dark shadow at 05:52 UT. The faint shading ended at 07:01 UT. Each of the stages is written in the clock of every city in the table, and a city sees a stage only if the Moon is above its horizon then.
Where it was seen
NASA lists the eclipse as visible from the eastern Pacific, the Americas, Europe and Africa. In the western half of North America the whole eclipse fell in the evening of 27 August. In Los Angeles the dark bite began at 19:33 and ended at 22:51 Pacific time, with the greatest at 21:12. In New York it took place after midnight, from 22:33 on 27 August to 01:51 on the 28th. In Europe the Moon was setting as the eclipse neared its end. In London the dark shadow began at 03:33, was deepest at 05:12, and the Moon set at 06:14 British Summer Time while the eclipse was still going on. In Nairobi the Moon set at 06:31, before the greatest eclipse, so only the first part was seen.
Not seen from India
At the greatest eclipse the time in India was about 09:42 in the morning, long after the Moon had set, and the whole eclipse took place in daylight there. It was not visible from any Indian city, so Indian panchangs list it as not visible and no sutak was observed. That day was also the full moon of Shravana and the festival of Raksha Bandhan, and the eclipse made no difference to the timings of its rituals.
In the Hindu calendar
The Moon at the greatest eclipse stood in Kumbha, the sidereal Aquarius, about 10.6 degrees into the sign, in Shatabhisha nakshatra. Shatabhisha means a hundred physicians and is ruled by Rahu in the Vimshottari dasha scheme. The positions are Lahiri, worked out to within a few hundredths of a degree. The Sun stood opposite, in Simha. A reading of the eclipse in an astrologer’s chart would depend on the individual birth chart, so none is given here. To look up your own Moon sign, use the Moon sign calculator.
Sutak for those who saw it
In a city where the eclipse was visible the sutak began nine hours before the dark shadow reached the Moon. For New York that was 13:33 on 27 August, and for Los Angeles 10:33 on the same day. Families abroad who follow it generally follow the same rule as in India, adjusted to the local clock. If the Moon was already setting, as in the cities of Europe, the sutak was still counted from the first umbral contact.