A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, with an umbral magnitude of 1.1507. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average, as it occurred 6.7 days after perigee (on February 24, 2026, at 18:15 UTC) and 6.9 days before apogee (on March 10, 2026, at 09:45 UTC).
This lunar eclipse was the third of an almost tetrad, with the others being on March 14, 2025 (total); September 8, 2025 (total); and August 28, 2026 (partial).
During the eclipse, the Moon occulted NGC 3423 over North America. Deep-sky objects are rarely occulted during a total eclipse from any given spot on Earth.
This eclipse fell on the Lantern Festival, the first since February 11, 2017.
Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over northeast Asia, northwestern North America, and the central Pacific Ocean, seen rising over much of Asia and Australia and setting over North and South America.
Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
Eclipse season
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.
Eclipses in 2026
- An annular solar eclipse on February 17.
- A total lunar eclipse on March 3.
- A total solar eclipse on August 12.
- A partial lunar eclipse on August 28.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 16, 2022
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 20, 2029
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 21, 2019
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 14, 2033
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 2017
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 9, 2035
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 2015
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 31, 2037
Lunar Saros 133
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 21, 2008
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 2044
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 24, 1997
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 11, 2055
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 3, 1939
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 2, 2113
Lunar eclipses of 2024–2027
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The penumbral lunar eclipse on July 18, 2027 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Metonic series
The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will be in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.
Saros 133
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 133, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on May 13, 1557. It contains partial eclipses from August 7, 1683 through December 17, 1899; total eclipses from December 28, 1917 through August 3, 2278; and a second set of partial eclipses from August 14, 2296 through March 11, 2639. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on June 29, 2819.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 41 seconds on May 30, 2170. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Half-Saros cycle
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 140.