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VIIRS Day/Night Band imagery showing the effect of a total lunar eclipse

By Scott Bachmeier •

VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images from Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 on 03 March [click to play animated GIF]

A total lunar eclipse occurred on 03 March 2026, with totality beginning at 1104 UTC and ending at 1202 UTC (source). A sequence of VIIRS Day/Night Band images (acquired by the VIIRS Direct Broadcast ground station at SSEC/CIMSS) viewed using RealEarth (above) showed how the land surface and clouds were brightly illuminated by the Full Moon across much of eastern North America around 0644 UTC (prior to the beginning of the eclipse) — with illumination gradually diminishing across western North America and the eastern Pacific by about 1029 UTC (about 40 minutes into the partial phase of the eclipse).

A composite of NOAA-20 Day/Night Band image swaths from the VIIRS Today site is shown below.

Composite of NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image swaths on 03 March [click to enlarge]

An AWIPS view of three consecutive Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band images centered over Alaska (below) included an image within the period of totality (around 1144 UTC — the brighter city lights of Anchorage and Fairbanks along with those of oil drilling operations along the northern coast of Alaska near Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay were apparent in that otherwise dark image; the subtle glow of WNW-ESE oriented stripes of aurora borealis also appeared in the image). The sublunar longitude at mid-eclipse was at 170°37′ W longitude.

VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images from Suomi-NPP, centered over Alaska, on 03 March [click to play animated GIF]

Categories: Lunar eclipse, NOAA-20, NOAA-21, RealEarth, Suomi NPP, VIIRS