Liberty County skywatchers who looked up Thursday night, Aug. 27, were treated to an impressive celestial show as a deep partial lunar eclipse darkened nearly all of the full moon.
Beau McWhorter, a Bluebonnet News reader in Kenefick, captured photos of the eclipse on his cell phone Thursday night, Aug. 27, as Earth’s shadow moved across the moon.
The eclipse was visible across Texas and much of North and South America, as well as portions of Europe and Africa. NASA confirms that the Aug. 27-28 eclipse was a deep partial lunar eclipse visible from much of North and South America and parts of Europe and Africa. At maximum, 96.3 percent of the moon’s disk by area was within Earth’s umbra. NASA separately notes that about 93 percent of the moon’s diameter was within the umbra.
In Texas, the eclipse began subtly around 8:23 p.m. as the moon entered Earth’s lighter outer shadow. The more noticeable partial phase began around 9:33 p.m., with the eclipse reaching its maximum at approximately 11:12 p.m. The partial phase ended shortly before 1 a.m. Friday, while the final penumbral phase continued until about 2:01 a.m.
Although technically a partial eclipse, Thursday night’s event came remarkably close to being a total lunar eclipse. At its peak, only a small portion of the moon remained outside Earth’s darkest shadow.
Unlike a solar eclipse, no special eye protection is needed to watch a lunar eclipse.
For those who missed Thursday night’s show, another lunar eclipse will be visible from Texas on Feb. 20, 2027, though that event will be a more subtle penumbral eclipse. The next partial lunar eclipse visible from Texas is expected Jan. 11-12, 2028.