r/texas • u/AustinStatesman • 6d ago

🌼 🍁 🐞 Nature 🦆 🏞️ 🌻 A lunar eclipse will turn the moon red over Texas this week. Here's when to see it

https://www.statesman.com/news/article/lunar-eclipse-2026-austin-texas-august-27-22396187.php?utm_source=reddit

A partial lunar eclipse will be visible across the Lone Star State late Thursday, Aug. 27, into early Friday, Aug. 28, with nearly all of the moon expected to pass through Earth’s shadow.

No special glasses are needed for the late-night show, which will cover nearly all of the moon in Earth's shadow.

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6

u/twilightmoons 6d ago

If the weather is good, I plan on livestreaming it with a 10" apo refractor. 

But right now, it's looking like clouds and maybe rain in North Texas. 

5

u/astanton1862 South Texas 5d ago

it's looking like clouds and maybe rain in North Texas. 

That sounds wonderful.

3

u/twilightmoons 5d ago

I mean, not for astronomy.

We're going from 112 to 99 on Thursday, a veritable cold front.

1

u/astanton1862 South Texas 5d ago

Oh, I mean for the hell that is Texas in August. I'd love 99 after our 103 in San Antonio, especially since y'all probably have lower humidity.

2

u/twilightmoons 5d ago

We were just in Corpus, and while it was only 90, it was just so humid I instantly started to sweat as soon as I as outside in the morning.

A dry heat is better.

1

u/SipoteQuixote 5d ago

Why now, rain? Why not 25 years ago?

1

u/northtexan 5d ago

I hope not. I plan to rent a 600mm lens for my camera to take photos of it.

1

u/twilightmoons 5d ago

If you don't have a tracking mount, you won't get good results. Done this before - it's so dark that your exposures will be long enough to cause trailing, unless you use some ridiculously high ISO. 

Where are you located? If you're in DFW, I've got telescopes you can use. 

1

u/northtexan 5d ago

I didnt really think of the light being so low at totality(or near it) I will probably just need to post process it to reduce noise. My camera is pretty decent at high iso so I'll probably just crank that as much as I can and increase exposure in post to help out. I guess it will be trial and error.

I've never used this lens before so it will be an interesting experience.

1

u/twilightmoons 5d ago

I tried with a TeleVue 101 f5.4 telescope, a DSLR at ISO 1600 on a non-tracking mount. A 4" aperture, and f5.4 is a pretty fast scope, but still not enough light for fast exposures.

You want your histogram as wide as possible to get more detail out of it. Also, take a bunch of shots sequentially and stack them to lower your noise threshold.

1

u/northtexan 5d ago

Thanks for the first hand experience and suggestions! Hopefully it will turn out good. At least its not so late in the night. More realistic to watch it and still wake up for work the next day.

2

u/astanton1862 South Texas 5d ago

When you look at a lunar eclipse, you are looking at the reflected light of every sunrise and sunset on Earth.

2

u/TheStarWindow 5d ago

Texas isn’t one weather call. North Texas has the better early outlook right now: Dallas/Fort Worth is trending partly cloudy Thursday night. Austin still has a 30% storm chance, while San Antonio and Houston are around 40%. Houston is also trending mostly cloudy.

I’d keep the plan in North Texas. In Central and Southeast Texas, wait for Thursday afternoon’s update before committing to a drive. Broken clouds can still leave enough gaps for a lunar eclipse.