Shades of a Lunar Eclipse
On March 3, 2026, Earth aligned directly between the Moon and the Sun, casting its shadow on the full Moon. The total lunar eclipse was visible throughout the Americas, East Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Skywatchers in these parts of the world may have witnessed a “Blood Moon,” when the dimmed lunar surface temporarily took on an orange-red color.
During this time, satellites observed the effect of the Moon’s darkening on the Earth’s surface. Changes in the amount of lunar light reflected back to Earth as the eclipse progresses are shown in this composite image, composed of nighttime observations made by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-21 satellite. The satellite collected these images of the Arctic approximately every 100 minutes, with earlier bands to the right and later bands to the left.
The VIIRS day-night band detects nighttime light in a wavelength range from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, reflected moonlight and the aurora borealis. The darkest band was acquired at 11:20 a.m. Universal Time (2:20 a.m. Alaska Standard Time), approximately 15 minutes after the start of the total phase. With very little lunar light reaching Earth, ribbons of light from the Northern Lights shine, as well as points of artificial light from settlements in the Yukon and eastern Alaska.
When the satellite passed over western Alaska and the Bering Strait, at 1:00 p.m. universal time (4:00 a.m. Alaska Standard Time), the eclipse was in partial phase. The scene is noticeably brighter than the previous one, and light from the partially shadowed Moon illuminates the snowy topography and clouds offshore. The brightest bands on the far right and left were acquired before and after the eclipse respectively, with the light of the full Moon.
The next opportunity to observe a total lunar eclipse will be on December 31, 2028, when it will add an astronomical touch to New Year’s celebrations in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using VIIRS day-night band data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Story by Lindsey Doermann.
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March 3, 2026
References and resources
- CIMSS Satellite Blog (March 3, 2026) VIIRS day/night band images showing the effect of a total lunar eclipse. Accessed March 9, 2026.
- NASA The Moon and eclipses. Accessed March 9, 2026.
- NASA (January 29, 2026) March 2026 total lunar eclipse: your questions answered. Accessed March 9, 2026.
- NASA (April 29, 2009) Total lunar eclipse of March 3, 2026. Accessed March 9, 2026.
- NASA Earth Observatory (September 20, 2025) In the warm light of the Moon. Accessed March 9, 2026.
- NASA Earth Observatory (March 13, 2008) Lunar eclipse from orbit. Accessed March 9, 2026.
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