Skywatchers across Costa Rica will have the chance to see a deep partial lunar eclipse, also known as a blood moon, on Thursday when Earth’s shadow is expected to cover about 96% of the moon’s surface, according to the Planetario of the University of Costa Rica.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through Earth’s shadow as it orbits the planet, the Planetario added.

The eclipse will begin on Thursday, August 27, at 8:30 p.m. Costa Rica time (10:30 p.m. ET), reach its greatest phase at about 10:10 p.m. (11:10 p.m. ET), and end around 11:50 p.m. (1:50 a.m. ET).

According to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 96.3% of the moon’s disk is expected to be within Earth’s umbra, the central part of the planet’s shadow where the sun is completely blocked by Earth.

“The umbra’s dramatic effect is easily visible as it takes an increasingly large bite out of the disk of the full moon,” NASA said in a statement. “Less than an hour later, the part of the moon still in sunlight will be small enough for observers’ eyes to adapt to darkness and perceive the coppery color of the part of the moon within the umbra.”

NASA said its visualizations of the eclipse mimic this dark adaptation by increasing the apparent photographic exposure around the time of greatest eclipse.

The next blood moon visible from Costa Rica is expected to occur Jan. 11, 2027, experts said.

The Planetario of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) is the country’s scientific education and outreach center dedicated to astronomy and space science. It is located on the university’s campus in San José.

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