La Crosse Area Astronomical Society - LCAAS

09/02/2026

09/01/2026

09/01/2026

09/01/2026

08/28/2026

Lunar eclipse! Look up!! Mid-eclipse around 11:15. Over around 2 am.

08/27/2026

Don't miss Thursday night's colorful, near-total lunar eclipse

You don't need anything but your eyes and a comfortable chair to watch the eclipse tomorrow night. This eclipse occurs about 2 weeks after the Aug. 12 new moon and total solar eclipse. The interval between new moon and full moon, when lunar eclipses occur, is about 2 weeks. That's close enough in time for the moon to align again with the Earth and sun to produce a second eclipse. Eclipses nearly always come in pairs.

On Thursday night, the moon passes behind Earth into its shadow, which has two parts — the outer penumbra and inner umbra. You'll see the first penumbral shading around 9 p.m. Central Time as a soot-like smudge along the moon's left (east) side. The umbra or core shadow is much darker and looks like a nibble that gradually becomes a big bite.

At greatest eclipse the umbra will darken 96% of the moon, leaving only a bright upper edge like you see in the photo. As the moon slips deeper in the umbra it will turn a beautiful smoky red or red-orange. This is caused by sunlight refracted (bent) by the atmosphere into the umbra from every single sunrise and sunset around the perimeter of our planet. It's an amazing sight. Wishing you clear skies!

08/27/2026

08/21/2026

A near-total lunar eclipse wraps up August's trifecta of two major eclipses and the Perseids.
Read more: https://buff.ly/42ij8Ud