Total Lunar Eclipse March 03, 2026: Time and List of Cities, Countries to Watch
A Total Lunar Eclipse, which will virtually turn Moon deep crimson colour, called 'Blood Moon', will be witnessed on Tuesday March 03, 2026 across the world, including India
Total Lunar Eclipse March 2026: A Total Lunar Eclipse, which will virtually turn Moon deep crimson colour, called 'Blood Moon', will be witnessed on Tuesday March 03, 2026 across the world, including India.
Partial vs Total Lunar Eclipse
Lunar Eclipse occurs on a Full Moon Night when the Earth comes in between the Sun and the Moon, and all the three objects are aligned. A Total Lunar Eclipse occurs when the whole Moon comes under the umbral shadow of the Earth whereas the partial lunar eclipse occurs only when a part of the Moon comes under shadow of the Earth.
The total lunar eclipse Tuesday is visible in the region covering eastern Asia, Australia, Pacific Ocean and Americas, including most places of India, except from some places of extreme western part of the country.
According to Nasa, a Lunar Eclipse takes place during a Full Moon when Earth casts its shadow over the lunar surface. As sunlight passes through Earth’s atmosphere, shorter wavelengths scatter while red and orange hues reach the Moon, giving it its distinctive coppery glow during totality.
At its maximum, the Lunar Eclipse will turn the Full Moon into a deep reddish hue which is why it is called "Blue Moon".
List of Countries, Cities to Watch Lunar Eclipse March 2026
The total lunar eclipse on March 3, 2026 will be visible in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and most parts of Asia, but will not be visible in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Middle Eastern countries.
This eclipse will not be visible from Saudi Arabia (Riyadh), and other Middle Eastern countries as the Moon will be below the horizon for the entire duration of the event.
The March 2026 Lunar eclipse will also be visible in most countries of the world. Full totality can be seen in the Middle East region, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe. However, only partial eclipse phases will be visible in eastern South America and western North America at moonrise or moonset.
Those residing in the Indian cities of Agartala, Aijawl, Bhagalpur, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Dibrugarh, Gangtok, Guwahati, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, and Kolkata will witness the Lunar Eclipse for more than one hour.
For those residing in Delhi the eclipse will be visible for 26 minutes, in Chennai 31 minutes, Bhopal 24 minutes, Bhubaneswar 57 minutes, Chandigarh 29 minutes, Cuttack 58 minutes, Haridwar 31 minutes, Hyderabad 26 minutes, Jaipur 19 minutes, Jammu 19 minutes, Lucknow 41 minutes, Nagpur 30 minutes, and Muzaffarpur 58 minutes.
In Mumbai, Midnapore, Mount Abu, Nashik, Malegaon, Dhule and some other cities of India the eclipse will be visible from 3 to 5 minutes.
March 2026 Lunar Eclipse Date, Time
The Moon will begin eclipse around 03:20 PM and end at 06:48 PM Tuesday March 03, 2026.
The magnitude of the eclipse is 1.155. The duration of totality will be 58 minutes, while the entire event will last for 5 hours and 39 minutes, according to India Meteorological Department, Positional Astronomical Centre, Kolkata.
The total lunar eclipse (Blood Moon Phase) will begin around 16:34 PM IST Tuesday March 03, 2026, and will remain at the peak till 17:33 PM IST Tuesday March 03, 2026. This is when the Full Moon will become invisible.
The Total Lunar Eclipse will then slowly vanish and end at around 07:53 PM Tuesday March 3, 2026.
The Total Lunar Eclipse in March 2026 can be viewed with naked eyes and there is no harm.
The eclipses are signs of Allah, The Almighty and The Creator, and various superstitions and bad omen associated with the astral events are baseless.
Salat Al Khusuf (Lunar Eclipse Prayer)
As per the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Muslims residing in the countries and cities where the Total or Partial Lunar Eclipse will be visible on March 03, 2026 will offer Special Eclipse Prayers “Salat al Khusoof”. The Special Eclipse Prayer will be followed by sermon.
The last total lunar eclipse was seen on September 7/8 2025. Besides India, the September 2025 eclipse was also seen in Saudi Arabia and UAE. Accordingly, the Salat al Khusoof was offered at The Two Holy Mosques - Masjid al Haram, Makkah and Masjid Nabawi, Madinah.
Salat al Khusoof was also offered last time in Malegaon. On March 03, 2026, the Eclipse will be visible in Malegaon only for 5 minutes. Hence the special prayer will not be offered. This is also because the Eclipse on Tuesday coincides with Ramadan 2026, and the visibility in most part of India will be Iftar time.
The next lunar eclipse, which will be visible from India, is on 6th July, 2028.It will be a Partial Lunar Eclipse.
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