Astrophotographers across the Americas, Europe and Africa are preparing for one of the most impressive celestial events of 2026 as a deep partial lunar eclipse appears in the night sky overnight on Thursday, Aug. 27, and Friday, Aug. 28 — and there’s even a chance of aurora for some. While it falls just short of becoming a total lunar eclipse, more than 96% of the full moon will pass into Earth’s darkest shadow, creating a dramatic reddish glow that will closely resemble the iconic “blood moon” effect.

Unlike a solar eclipse, this event is completely safe to observe and photograph without filters. It also unfolds over a few hours, giving observers and photographers plenty of time to experiment with compositions, camera settings and different focal lengths. Here’s everything you need to know about photographing tonight’s partial lunar eclipse.

A Rare Opportunity For Lunar Photography

This eclipse will be the deepest partial lunar eclipse visible anywhere in the world until New Year’s Eve 2028, and until mid-2029 from North America. At maximum eclipse, only a thin sliver of the moon will remain in direct sunlight while the rest is bathed in the reddish light filtered through Earth’s atmosphere. It’s as if thousands of sunsets are being projected onto the lunar surface.

For photographers, this creates a striking contrast between the bright lunar edge and the shadowed surface, making it an ideal opportunity to capture unique images that closely resemble those taken during a total lunar eclipse.

Eclipse Timings Across North America

For observers across much of North America, the deep partial lunar eclipse will take place on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 27 and continue into the early hours of Friday, Aug. 28, depending on your time zone. The eclipse will be visible across most of North and South America, except Alaska and parts of northwestern Canada. At the same time, viewers in western Europe and western Africa will catch the event before moonset.

The event happens in three phases as the moon drifts into Earth’s outer shadow (penumbra), then through inner shadow (umbra)— the visually impressive partial phase — then out of Earth’s outer shadow. Here are the timings for the partial phase (including the time of maximum eclipse) for all North American time zones, according to TimeAndDate.com , overnight on Aug. 27-28

  • 10:33-01:51 p.m. EDT (max. eclipse at 12:12 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 28)
  • 9:33-00:51 p.m. CDT (max. eclipse at 11:12 a.m. CDT on Thursday, Aug. 27)
  • 8:33-11:51 p.m. MDT (max. eclipse at 10:12 p.m. MDT on Thursday, Aug. 27)
  • 7:33-10:51 p.m. MST (max. eclipse at 9:12 p.m. MST on Thursday, Aug. 27)
  • 7:33-10:51 p.m. PDT (max. eclipse at 9:12 p.m. PDT on Thursday, Aug. 27)

At maximum eclipse, only a 4% sliver of the moon remains in direct sunlight, while the rest takes on a striking copper-red glow as sunlight filtered through Earth’s atmosphere illuminates the shadowed surface.

Choosing The Right Equipment

You don’t need specialist astronomy equipment to photograph the eclipse successfully. A smartphone can capture atmospheric landscape scenes featuring the reddish moon, though a DSLR or mirrorless camera paired with a telephoto lens will reveal far more detail.

Wide-angle lenses work well for including city skylines or natural landscapes, while lenses between 200mm and 600mm are ideal for close-up lunar photography. If you own a telescope with a camera adapter, you can achieve even greater detail across the lunar surface.

Whatever camera you use, a sturdy tripod is essential. As the moon darkens, you'll need longer shutter speeds to maintain image quality.

Manual Camera Settings To Try

Begin with manual focus, using your camera’s live view to achieve the sharpest possible focus on the moon’s edge. For the brighter stages of the eclipse, settings around ISO 100, f/8 and shutter speeds between 1/125 and 1/250 second provide an excellent starting point. As the eclipse deepens and the moon becomes significantly darker, gradually lengthen your exposure (perhaps to 1 second during near-totality) and use a higher ISO (up to about ISO 1600, according to PhotoPills ). Since there will always be a bright edge, use bracketing to take several images at slightly different exposures, then combine them later to create an HDR image.

Shooting in RAW format is strongly recommended, as it provides greater flexibility when adjusting exposure, color and shadow detail during post-processing.

Some of the most memorable eclipse photographs include foreground subjects. Buildings, monuments, mountains and coastlines can all provide scale and context, particularly if the moon is rising or setting during the eclipse.

Planning your location using mapping or astronomy apps (such as TPE (The Photographer's Ephemeris) and PhotoPills ) can help you line up the moon with an interesting landmark, creating a far more compelling image than an isolated lunar close-up.

Capturing The Aurora During The Eclipse

If the Northern Lights do materialise — and there are no guarantees — they are likely to be visible to the north (the moon will be in the south-east to southwest, depending on your location), the best advice is to use a wide-angle lens — such as a smartphone. In fact, modern smartphones in Night Mode are so sensitive that they can detect a faint hint of green or red where the human eye sees only grey. For manual cameras with wide-angle lenses, try ISO 800, f2.8 and about 10-30 seconds shutter speed — also in RAW and always on a tripod.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.