August 27, 2026: The Full Sturgeon moon is in eclipse tonight where about 94% of the moon is in Earth’s darker umbral shadow.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:11 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:32 p.m. CDT. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times.
Venus as an Evening Star
Sturgeon Moon Eclipse
A Sturgeon moon lunar eclipse occurs overnight across the western hemisphere, across western Europe and Africa.
At maximum eclipse, the moon is near the zenith above the Brazilian rainforest.
This month’s Full moon is known as the Sturgeon moon, occurring at 11:18 p.m. Central Time, when the moon is opposite the sun.
Eclipse Shadows
A lunar eclipse occurs when the lunar orb passes through Earth’s shadow which is always projected into space opposite the sun. Simply, nighttime is from Earth’s shadow. At the moon’s distance the effect is different.
The shadow looks like two concentric circles. The outer section is known as the penumbra. It is a widening cone where the moon is in twilight, about 10,000 miles across at the moon’s distance. Like Earth’s twilight – from the penumbra – there are three zones – faint, mid, and deep – during the eclipse. For most observers, the bright moon hardly dims.
The inner circle is the umbra, about 6,000 miles across. When the moon, moving from west to east, begins to cross into this portion, the partial eclipse begins. During a total lunar eclipse, the moon’s edge passes closer to the center of the umbra, but tonight it is off-center with a small part still in the penumbra. At maximum eclipse less than 10% of the moon is still in the dark twilight portion of the outer shadow. The partial phases return the moon to the penumbra and then into full sunlight.
No special equipment is needed to see the eclipse. A lawn chair or blanket is useful for a relaxed pose when looking upward for an extended period. A binocular or spotting scope gives a closer view of the eclipse while photography from a tripod-mounted camera with exposures up to several seconds works best.
The entire event lasts for over five hours with the partial phases occurring over three hours.
Eclipse Events
Here are the events of the night (Central Time. Convert for your local time zone. Since everyone on half of Earth sees the moon, there are no differential times for latitude and longitude like a solar eclipse.)
| Event | Time |
| Penumbral eclipse begins | 8:22 p.m. (Aug 27) |
| Partial eclipse begins | 9:33 p.m. |
| Maximum eclipse (93%) | 11:13 p.m. |
| Partial eclipse ends | 12:52 a.m. (Aug 28) |
| Penumbral eclipse ends | 2:03 a.m. |
Get outside enjoy the eclipse. Take an early evening walk in the pre-eclipse moonlight or set an alarm to see the best part of the eclipse from about 10:45 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.
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