Lunar eclipses of 2030: a supermoon half-eclipsed on June 15, and a faint one in December.
2030 has two lunar eclipses and neither is total. The one worth watching is the partial eclipse of June 15, when about half of the Moon's diameter enters Earth's umbra at 18:33 UTC. That full moon is also a supermoon, one of the closest of the year, so the half-shadowed disc will look slightly larger than usual. Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia see it; the Americas do not. The second, on December 9, is penumbral only, a faint shading most people would not notice. This page gives the times, who sees what, and why 2030 has no blood moon.
What time is the June 15, 2030 partial lunar eclipse?
| Stage | UTC, June 15, 2030 | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Penumbral eclipse begins | 16:14 | Nothing yet; a faint shading develops over the next hour |
| Partial eclipse begins | 17:21 | A dark bite appears on the Moon's edge |
| Greatest eclipse | 18:33 | About half the disc inside the umbra; umbral magnitude 0.504 |
| Partial eclipse ends | 19:45 | The umbra leaves the disc |
| Penumbral eclipse ends | 20:52 | Full brightness |
Times from the NASA Goddard eclipse catalog and EclipseWise, agreeing within about 30 seconds. Greatest eclipse at 18:33 UTC is 19:33 in the UK, 20:33 in Central Europe and South Africa, 21:33 in Cairo and Moscow, 00:03 June 16 in Delhi, 02:33 in Beijing and Perth, 03:33 in Tokyo, and 04:33 in Sydney.
Where is the June eclipse visible?
East Africa, the Middle East, all of Asia, Australia, and Antarctica see the whole event with the Moon well up. Western Europe and West Africa see the Moon rise at dusk with the eclipse under way; in Britain and France the Moon comes up at dusk with the umbral bite already on it, low in the southeast, so a clear horizon matters. Eastern Australia and New Zealand see the eclipse before dawn on June 16 as the Moon sets. North and South America miss it entirely.
What does a half-covered supermoon look like?
At greatest eclipse the umbra covers about half the Moon's diameter. The shadowed half goes a dim red or gray, the same color a total eclipse shows, but the sunlit half is so much brighter that the eye rarely sees the red well; a camera with a short exposure does. The full moon of June 15 at 18:41 UTC falls about 19 hours after perigee at 358,170 km, which makes it a supermoon under Fred Espenak's definition and one of the closest full moons of 2030, about 7 percent wider than average. The supermoon dates page lists all five of 2030's.
What about the December 9, 2030 eclipse?
It is penumbral, with greatest eclipse at 22:28 UTC and a penumbral magnitude that brings the Moon only a little way into Earth's outer shadow. The umbral magnitude is negative, meaning the umbra never touches the disc. A penumbral eclipse of this depth shows as a slight dusky shading on one edge of the full moon for an hour or so either side of maximum, visible to a careful eye or in a photograph compared against an uneclipsed image, and easy to miss otherwise. It is visible from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is listed here for completeness, not as an event to plan around.
Why does 2030 have no total lunar eclipse?
The two full moons nearest the nodes of the Moon's orbit in 2030 both fall too far from the node for the Moon to pass fully into the umbra. Eclipse geometry drifts a little each season, and 2030 sits in the part of the cycle where the solar eclipses are central, an annular on June 1 and a total on November 25, while the lunar ones are shallow. 2029 was the opposite, with four partial solar eclipses and two total lunar eclipses.
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Quick answers.
Is there a blood moon in 2030?
No. Both lunar eclipses of 2030 are shallow: a partial on June 15 that covers about half the disc, and a penumbral on December 9. The last total lunar eclipse before 2030 is December 20, 2029.
What time is the June 15, 2030 lunar eclipse?
The partial phase runs from 17:21 to 19:45 UTC with greatest eclipse at 18:33 UTC, the evening in Europe and Africa and the early hours of June 16 in Asia and Australia.
Can I see the June 2030 eclipse from the United States?
No. The Moon is below the horizon for the Americas during the whole eclipse.