Live broadcast of the lunar eclipse in the UAE

The skies of the UAE will witness on Sunday, a total lunar eclipse, where people in the country will have the chance to observe a complete lunar eclipse on the nights of September 7 and 8. During this event, the entire moon will pass through the Earth’s shadow, causing its color to shift to red—a phenomenon known as a total lunar eclipse. It will be visible across all regions of the UAE, as well as most parts of Asia and the Middle East.

Ibrahim Al-Jarwan, Chairman of the Emirates Astronomy Society and member of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences, said the event is exceptional in its characteristics, as it will be among the longest total lunar eclipses of the last decade. The entire event will last about 5 hours and 27 minutes, with the total eclipse phase alone lasting around 82 minutes (1 hour and 22 minutes). He added that about 85% of the world’s population will be able to see it, provided the moon is above the horizon during the event.

Al-Jarwan confirmed that the UAE is in a perfect position to follow the eclipse from beginning to end. The phases of the total lunar eclipse according to UAE local time will be as follows:

19:28 – Start of the eclipse with the penumbral phase

20:27 – Beginning of the partial eclipse

21:30 – Start of the total eclipse

22:10 – Peak of the total eclipse

22:53 – End of the total eclipse

23:56 – End of the partial eclipse

00:55 (early September 8) – End of the eclipse with the conclusion of the penumbral phase

The International Astronomy Center announced it will broadcast the total lunar eclipse live, which the region’s skies will witness on Sunday evening, through one of the telescopes of the Al-Khatim Observatory in Abu Dhabi. The broadcast will run from 7:30 PM until 11:50 PM UAE time on the center’s official social media platforms.

Engineer Mohammed Shawkat Odeh, Director of the Center, explained that the eclipse will be visible to varying degrees across the Arab world. The moon will rise in the eastern part of the region before the eclipse begins, while in the central Arab world it will appear above the horizon during the early stages of the eclipse. In the western Arab world, the moon will rise during the later phases of the event.

He added that the eclipse will pass through successive phases:

07:28 PM – Start of the penumbral phase08:27 PM – Start of the partial eclipse09:31 PM – Start of the total eclipse10:12 PM – Peak of the total eclipse10:53 PM – End of the total eclipse11:57 PM – End of the partial eclipse12:55 AM (Monday, UAE time) – End of the event

He stressed that the event will be clearly visible to the naked eye between 8:15 PM and 12:15 AM.

He also pointed out that during a total lunar eclipse, the moon does not disappear completely but usually takes on bright hues of yellow, orange, or red, as a result of sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere and refracting toward the moon.

He added that the brightness and color of the moon during the eclipse are indicators of the purity of Earth’s atmosphere. Increased pollution reduces refracted light, causing the moon to appear in a dark red or brown shade, and in rare cases, it may almost disappear altogether—as happened during the December 12, 1992 eclipse, when the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines (June 1991) affected Earth’s atmosphere.