The full Sturgeon Moon rose around the night-side of the world late on Thursday, Aug. 26, and in the early hours of Friday, Aug. 28, delivering dramatic night-sky scenes as an unusually deep partial lunar eclipse unfolded for observers across much of the Americas, Europe and Africa. It came as northern lights were forecast for northern U.S. states into the weekend , just as NASA prepares to launch the Roman Space Telescope .

The full Sturgeon Moon reached its exact full phase at 12:18 a.m. EDT on Aug. 28 (04:18 UTC), according to Timeanddate.com. It was the ninth full moon of 2026 and the third full moon of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

This full moon coincided with a very deep partial lunar eclipse, with 96% of the moon entering Earth’s shadow. At maximum eclipse, only a 4% sliver of the moon remained in direct sunlight, with the rest taking on a striking copper-red glow as sunlight filtered through Earth’s atmosphere, illuminating the shadowed surface.

The eclipse was visible from North and South America, Europe and Africa. While those in the Americas saw it either side of midnight, viewers in western Europe and western Africa caught the event before moonset in the early morning.

WHY IT’S CALLED THE STURGEON MOON

August’s full moon is traditionally known as the Sturgeon Moon, named by Indigenous peoples of North America for the abundance of sturgeon in lakes and rivers at this time of year. Other names include the green corn moon and grain moon, reflecting late-summer harvest cycles.

A FULL MOON IN EARTH’S SHADOW

During the deep partial lunar eclipse, Earth passed between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow across most of the lunar surface. Although the moon did not become fully eclipsed, its shadowed portion appeared dusky and coppery — a subtle preview of a total “blood moon.”

Since Earth’s shadow is much larger than the moon, every lunar eclipse can be seen by an entire hemisphere — the night-side of Earth when the eclipse occurs. Although the entire eclipse lasted 5 hours and 38 minutes, the most dramatic views came around maximum eclipse, when about 96% of the moon’s disk was covered by Earth’s dark umbral shadow.

The exact shade of red — the effect that gives rise to the popular term “Blood Moon” — can vary. The color depends on the amount of dust and clouds in Earth’s atmosphere, which filter sunlight before it reaches the eclipsed moon. An eclipsed moon can look muted copper, orange or deep red.

Skywatchers not only saw the moon change color, but also witnessed the sharp, curved edge of Earth’s shadow steadily advancing across — and later retreating from — the lunar surface. Experienced observers could also see a subtle turquoise band between the bright edge and the reddened portion of the moon. The unusual color is created by sunlight passing through Earth’s ozone-rich stratosphere before reaching the lunar surface.

Eclipses Never Come Alone

The Sturgeon Moon followed just 16 days after the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026, the result of the same alignment between sun, moon and Earth — something astronomers call syzygy. From August 2026 through July 2028, Earth will experience three total solar eclipses and three annular “ring of fire” eclipses — an unusually rich sequence not seen in such accessible locations for decades. The next total lunar eclipse is not until New Year’s Eve 2028.

WHAT’S NEXT IN THE NIGHT SKY

The next full moon will be the Harvest Moon on Sept. 26, 2026, followed closely by a run of planetary highlights, including Saturn at opposition on Oct. 4 and several close conjunctions of the moon with bright planets.