A deep lunar eclipse, as seen from Carlsbad, California on August 28, 2026.

Incredibly, I ended up seeing the eclipse completely by chance. I had forgotten it was happening tonight, glanced out the window, and suddenly noticed the Moon already in deep shadow. I grabbed my camera and managed to take a handheld shot just eight minutes before the eclipse reached its maximum. A deep lunar eclipse — when more than 95% of the Moon is in Earth’s shadow — occurs only once every 2 to 2.5 years on average.

Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 180-600 mm f/5.6-6.3 VR at 600mm, Exposure 1/13 at f/6.3, ISO 25600, handheld

Cropped and adjusted levels in Lightroom, reduced noise with Topaz DeNoise AI.