Overview
- The eclipse is confirmed for the night of Thursday, Aug. 27 into Friday, Aug. 28 and will reach its maximum near 12:12 a.m. Eastern time, which is about 5:12 a.m. British Summer Time.
- Observers in the UK and Ireland should expect penumbral contact at about 02:23 BST, the partial phase to begin around 03:33 BST, maximum at 05:12 BST, and the partial phase to end near 06:51 BST with London moonset roughly 06:15 BST.
- Authorities and observatories say the event is safe to view with the naked eye, so no solar-style eclipse glasses are needed, and binoculars, small telescopes or cameras with telephoto lenses will show more detail.
- Reports describe the eclipse as very deep but partial, with common calculations giving roughly 93% umbral magnitude while some outlets quote about 96% obscuration; the two figures measure different things, one across the Moon's diameter and the other across its area.
- The eclipse will be visible from the Americas, Europe, Africa and parts of South America, though viewers in the Americas are best placed to see it start to finish and clouds, moonset and local light pollution will be the main limits on what people actually see.