08/24/2026
🌕🌑 Are you ready for the partial lunar eclipse (and FREE watch party!)?
This Thursday, Tucson gets a pretty spectacular show in the night sky, and we’re throwing a FREE Lunar Eclipse Watch Party at Flandrau and on the UA Mall! 🔭
On August 27, about 96% of the Moon will pass into Earth’s umbra, the darkest part of our planet’s shadow. That makes this a very deep partial lunar eclipse, with only a tiny sliver of the Moon escaping the umbra at maximum eclipse.
🌕 6:45PM – Moonrise
🌘 7:33PM – Partial eclipse begins
🌑 9:12PM – Maximum eclipse, with 96% coverage
🌒 10:51PM – Partial eclipse ends
Join us from 5:30–11PM for an entire evening of astronomy, activities, exhibits, telescopes, planetarium presentations, laser shows, and, of course, eclipse viewing with the Tucson community.
🔭 Telescopes and activities on the UA Mall with our friends from the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association and University of Arizona Astronomy Club
🌙 6PM – Tucson Moon & Beyond, a live planetarium presentation
🚀 7PM – Forward! To the Moon, exploring NASA’s Artemis program
🌈 7:45PM – Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon laser show
🌑 9:12PM – Maximum eclipse! Head outside to see 96% of the Moon covered by Earth’s shadow
🌈 9:45PM – Encore presentation of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon
Plus, all seven of Flandrau’s science exhibits will stay open until 10PM, including Mysteries of the Cosmos: Life in the Universe.
And it’s all FREE! 🙌
This entire evening is presented by the Joseph Stanley Leeds Foundation, whose generous support makes the activities, exhibits, planetarium presentations, and laser shows free for everyone.
🎟️ Free planetarium and laser show passes will be distributed in person beginning the night of the event and are first-come, first-served. To give as many people as possible a chance to experience the dome, there is a limit of one planetarium or laser show per person.
No special equipment is needed to see a lunar eclipse, but we’ll have telescopes available for an even closer look. Come early, explore some science, grab a show pass, and then join Tucson outside as Earth’s shadow sweeps across the Moon.
📅 Thursday, August 27 from 5:30-10PM
