August 2026 Lunar Eclipse: When and How to See It From Greater Fort Lauderdale

Late on Thursday, August 27, the moon over Greater Fort Lauderdale is going to start disappearing.

By 12:12 a.m., almost all of it will be gone — covered by Earth's shadow and glowing a deep rusty orange. Then it slowly comes back, and by 1:52 a.m. it's over.

It's called a deep partial lunar eclipse, and it's the best one South Florida will get for years. You don't need a telescope. You don't need special glasses. You don't need to know anything about astronomy. You just need to go outside and look up.

What time is the eclipse in Fort Lauderdale?

All times are Eastern. They're the same across all 31 cities and towns in Broward County, and within a minute or two anywhere in Florida.

If you only go outside once, go between 11:45 p.m. and 12:40 a.m. That's the good part.

Is this a blood moon?

Almost.

"Blood moon" usually means a total eclipse, where the whole moon goes dark red. This one comes up just short. A thin sliver along one edge never quite makes it into the deepest shadow, so it stays lit and bright the entire time. But the other 96 percent will turn that deep orange-red everyone pictures.

Here's why it changes color. To reach the moon during an eclipse, sunlight has to pass through Earth's atmosphere first, which bends it and filters out the blue — the same thing that turns a sunset orange. So what you're looking at is the light of every sunrise and sunset happening on Earth at that moment, all landing on the moon at once.

That bright sliver does one more thing worth knowing: it makes the eclipse look better in person than in pictures. Your eyes adjust to the brightest thing in front of them, so the shadowed part will seem darker and more dramatic than any photo of it.

One more thing you might notice. Some places call this a 93 percent eclipse, others say 96 percent. Both are right, they're just measuring different things. 93 percent is how much of the moon's width goes into shadow. 96 percent is how much of the surface you can see. Astronomers use the first number. News stories usually use the second.

Where to watch in Greater Fort Lauderdale

At its peak, the moon will be high in the southern sky — a little more than halfway up from the horizon toward straight overhead.

That's genuinely good news, because it means you can ignore most standard eclipse advice. You don't need a clear view out over the ocean. You don't need to drive west to get away from city lights, since an eclipsed moon is still bright enough that streetlights barely matter.

All you need is a patch of open sky to the south, with no tall building or palm tree in the way. Your backyard might do it. So might a parking lot, or a balcony that faces the right direction.

If you'd rather make a night of it:

• The beaches. Fort Lauderdale Beach, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, and the Hollywood Broadwalk all give you wide-open sky and the ocean breeze that makes a late-August midnight pleasant. Check your city's beach hours before you head out.
• The piers. Anglin's Fishing Pier in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, the Pompano Beach Fishing Pier, and the Deerfield Beach International Fishing Pier put you out over the water with nothing blocking your view.
• Markham Park in Sunrise. The Fox Observatory, run by the South Florida Amateur Astronomers Association, sets up telescopes for the public free on Saturday nights. Call 954-384-0442 to find out if they're opening for the eclipse.

Two places to skip: Hugh Taylor Birch State Park and Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park both close at sundown.

How to photograph it

Your phone will probably turn the moon into a white blob. To help it, tap and hold on the moon to lock the focus and exposure, then slide down to darken the shot. Even better, put something in the foreground — a pier railing, a palm tree, a lifeguard stand — and let the moon be part of the picture instead of the whole thing.

And here's a tip: the prettiest moon-over-the-ocean shot of the night isn't the eclipse. It's moonrise, around 8 p.m., when the full moon comes up out of the Atlantic and sits low over the water. By the time the eclipse starts, the moon is too high to frame against anything.

When conditions are best

South Florida skies are usually at their clearest well after dark. Our summer clouds get built up by the afternoon heat and then tend to fall apart through the evening, so midnight often looks a lot better than dinnertime. An eclipse that peaks at 12:12 a.m. is well timed for this time of year.

On the night itself, a live satellite view will tell you more than a forecast percentage. Conditions shift fast along the coast, and a sky that looks hopeless at 11:30 will often open up right around peak. Give it a few minutes before you call it.

It's worth waiting out. The next two lunar eclipses visible from Florida, both in 2027, are so faint you won't be able to tell anything is happening. The next real one — a full total eclipse over Greater Fort Lauderdale — isn't until June 26, 2029.