Partial Eclipse of the Moon late this Thursday evening, 2026 August 27/28: A field trip for Headwaters Nature
I’m inviting you to join me late this Thursday evening (not Friday evening as I earlier wrote in error) to see the partial eclipse of the Moon as it transits across the sky from low in the South-East and across the South, and into the South-West. My thanks to those who pointed out my silly error about Friday evening … We’ll be going out on Thursday evening.)
The sky is predicted to be clear late on Thursday evening and into Friday morning. It will be about 15ºC at midnight, and dropping slowly. (I hesitate to say this, but there might also be a chance to see the Aurora Borealis that evening.) I will be dressing very warmly in several layers including a windproof outer jacket, and some light gloves and a warm wooly hat. I’ll bring a tripod and my smartphone, and my binoculars. Be aware that lunar eclipses take place over hours, not the brief minutes of a solar eclipse. There’s a slow drama that unfolds as the Moon is swallowed up by darkness. (Note that because this is sunshine being projected onto the Moon, we will not need any form of eye protection, such as we had to wear during the last Eclipse of the Sun several years ago.)
We’ll meet in the parking lot of Zehr’s at 11:30 PM EDT Thursday evening. Once together, we’ll cross Highway 10 at the lights at Fourth Avenue, and walk north along the Lakeside Trail to the north end of the first wooden bridge. That’s where we should have a clear view off to the south-east across Island Lake, when the Moon will be slowly being engulfed by the shadow of the Earth. The greatest part of the eclipse will be at 12:13 AM, with almost all of the Moon being dark and possibly quite reddish. We can stay there watching the Moon and the rest of the night sky as long as we like, though I expect we’ll be getting quite cool since we’re now used to being easily warm most of the time. We’ll walk out and back, covering about 1 kilometre of totally flat well-maintained trails each way.
I encourage you to read the excellent explanation of the event written by Nicole Mortillaro, a frequent presenter on CBC. She has several good diagrams and images https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/partial-lunar-eclipse-9.7314230? cmp=newsletter_CBC%20News%20Morning%20Brief_18067_2186512
Please respond to markwhitcombe34@gmail.com if you are planning on joining this Headwaters Nature field trip.