Lunar eclipse: When is the next ‘blood moon?’

TOLEDO, Ohio — Did you miss Sunday night’s total lunar eclipse? Don’t worry, we did, too: It was not visible in any part of North or South America. 

But that doesn’t mean another lunar eclipse is far away – here’s when the next one will be visible in northwest Ohio and beyond. 

According to NASA, as well as the website Time and Date, the next total lunar eclipse that will be visible in North America will occur on March 3, 2026, less than six months from now. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are very wide in their berth: it will be visible in North and South America, as well as Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. 

If you want to see the March 3 eclipse in Toledo, you’ll have to stay up late, or wake up very early. It will begin at 3:44 a.m., reach its maximum at 6:33 a.m. and end at 7:07 a.m.

But even if you miss that eclipse, there will be another one – albeit partial (though nearly full) – lunar eclipse on Aug. 28, 2026 that will be visible from North America. 

After that, several partial penumbral lunar eclipses will be visible until 2029, when two total lunar eclipses will occur, and both will be visible from northwest Ohio. These will happen on June 26, 2029 and Dec. 20, 2029. 

Lunar eclipses happen when the moon passes into the Earth’s shadow, called the umbra. A partial lunar eclipse happens when the moon passes through the Earth’s penumbra. 

The reason a lunar eclipse appears red is because the Earth’s atmosphere scatters the blue light that would otherwise give the moon a whiter hue, leaving only light wavelengths that produce the color red; any sunlight that isn’t blocked by the Earth is filtered through our planet’s atmosphere. It’s the same reason sunrises and sunsets appear much more vibrant and red than sunlight does at noon. 

A lunar eclipse can only happen during the full moon phase, but not all full moons are lunar eclipses. In fact, most are not.