--- title: When Is the Next Lunar Eclipse Visible in the U.S.? description: Americans won't see the longest lunar eclipse of the century on July 27. But there's another one happening soon that the U.S. can see canonical: https://time.com/5337581/next-lunar-eclipse/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-26T11:39:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T18:46:42.000Z og:title: Here's When the Next Lunar Eclipse Will Be Visible in the U.S. og:description: It's happening sooner than you think og:url: https://time.com/5337581/next-lunar-eclipse/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea9caea8d936352f/6989354acf40a83908c4cb7f/next-lunar-eclipse-us.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: When-Is-Next-Lunar-Eclipse-in-US og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's When the Next Lunar Eclipse Will Be Visible in the U.S. twitter:description: It's happening sooner than you think twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea9caea8d936352f/6989354acf40a83908c4cb7f/next-lunar-eclipse-us.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Americans Can't See Tonight's Lunar Eclipse. Here's When the Next Lunar Eclipse Will Be Visible in the U.S. > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f72e7dd9-1380-45d1-88e3-b09e5400a14f&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Longest Lunar Eclipse of the Century [Watch (HLS stream): The Longest Lunar Eclipse of the Century](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YZn3r5uB.m3u8) (3:07)  _Published 2018-07-25. Most of the world will get to see a total lunar eclipse this week._  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:46 PM UTCPublished: Jul 26, 2018 11:39 AM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:46 PM UTCPublished: Jul 26, 2018 11:39 AM UTC The [longest total lunar eclipse](http://time.com/5328804/july-2018-lunar-eclipse-date/) of the 21st century will take place for roughly four hours on Friday, July 27, but [not everyone will be able to see](http://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/) the spectacular view. This lunar eclipse, often called a [“blood moon”](http://time.com/5126611/super-blue-blood-moon-pictures-2018/) because of the reddish hue that the moon appears to take on as it moves through the shadow of the Earth, will be visible to [most places around the world](http://time.com/5304517/best-places-to-see-july-total-solar-eclipse/) (particularly, the Middle East, Africa, southern Asia, and the Indian Ocean region) but won’t be seen in North America. [**You Can Watch the Entire Lunar Eclipse Live. Here’s How to Stream the Blood Moon**](http://time.com/5351333/july-2018-lunar-eclipse-watch-live-online/) So when will the next lunar eclipse be visible in the U.S.? For North American residents suffering from an acute case of lunar eclipse FOMO — that is, the fear of missing out on this stunning visual phenomenon — there’s no need to fret. It’ll be a mere six months until North Americans will be able to view a lunar eclipse of their own on January 21, 2019. The January 2019 lunar eclipse is especially interesting because it will be a supermoon, which means that the moon will be the closest to the Earth as it can get during its orbit, essentially giving eager lunar observers two astronomical phenomena in one sitting. According to NASA planetary scientist Rick Elphic, who is the [Project Scientist for the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer at the NASA Ames Research Center](https://spacescience.arc.nasa.gov/finesse/people/richard-elphic/), having a supermoon lunar eclipse is relatively rare. “It’s usually years between lunar eclipses that have supermoons in them,” Elphic told _TIME_. “We just happen to be in a seasonal cycle where last year there was one and then this year, there is one and I don’t think there will be another supermoon eclipse for a while.” Until then, you can watch the July 27 lunar eclipse via [live stream](http://time.com/5351333/july-2018-lunar-eclipse-watch-live-online/) and prep for the January 21 supermoon lunar eclipse. One thing you won’t have to do to prepare, however, is stock up on [eclipse glasses](http://time.com/4878020/solar-eclipse-glasses-2017/) before the big day. Unlike solar eclipses, it’s completely safe to view with the naked eye, although Elphic prefers binoculars. “The best viewing is with binoculars. Telescopes can be useful but overpowering; if you’re using a telescope, you get a close-up view of the moon, but it’s really a much more dramatic thing to see against the night sky with binoculars. That’s your best bet.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] On July 27 almost every part of the world Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, South America even Antarctica will be treated to the longest total lunar eclipse And roughly a 100 years. During this time, the usually silvery moon will turn a blood red. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon casting a shadow across the entire lunar disks. The moon is not blooded out completely, but instead turns a deep red. Sometimes called a blood moon. As the Sun streams through Earth's atmosphere, allowing only the red wavelengths to pass. To learn more about the science of eclipses and why this one is special, Time editor at large, Jeffrey Kluger, spoke with American Museum of Natural Histories research associate, Emily Rice. Last summer, the United States was treated to a rare solar eclipse. This summer almost every other part of the world except the U. S. will be treated to a lunar eclipse lasting up to one hour and 43 minutes. A lunar eclipse is what happens. This is when the Earth blocks out the light from the sun that would normally be reflected off the full moon and that creates a total lunar eclipse. When all of the illuminated part of the moon is blocked by the Earth's shadow. When it's the Earth doing the blocking, the Earth has an atmosphere and so actually what we see is some of the red light that's kind of scattered through the Earth's atmosphere that still makes it into the shadow creating that red effect on the surface of the moon. [ MUSIC ] And if the sun were just a little bit bigger where the moon a bit farther away total solar eclipses may never occur, but they do and it's the reason eclipses are refered to as celestial phenomenon. The earth shadow is always there. But the earth shadow is always exactly on the ecliptic and the moon is usually a little bit above and below the ecliptic. And so they have to be exactly lined up in other for a total lunar eclipse to happen. What is significant in particular about this year. This eclipse This one is actually one of the longer lunar eclipses that we're ever going to be able to see. And that's really because the moon is going to be going really along the ecliptic and through the widest part of the world's shadow. The full moon will spend a longer time in that total phase of the eclipse and that will be very interesting. So this eclipse is not going to be visible for any of North America. The best places are going to be eastern South America. And then Western Europe Western Africa, and that's because this eclipse will be visible at moonrise in these areas. So at sunset. Those lucky enough to catch this years eclipse could also get a glimpse of Mars and the Milky Way. Sadly by the time night falls in North America and the moon rises here, the eclipse will already have end. but as 2018's If you can still catch the astrological marvel on a live webcast and while there are usually two to or three lunar eclipses in a given year it's hard not to be in awe of the wonder that proved Einstein's theory of relativity. The moon is really our celestial partner out in space and so it's nice that people are taking the excuse of a lunar excuse to pay attention to the moon. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5337581/next-lunar-eclipse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5337581/next-lunar-eclipse/"},"headline":"Americans Can't See Tonight's Lunar Eclipse. 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