March 2025: a total lunar eclipse before a partial eclipse of the Sun

The Moon will be putting on the first show in March

During the night of March 13 to 14, 2025, an eclipse of the Moon, or lunar eclipse, will take place between 11:57 p.m. EDT on March 13 and 5:59 a.m. EDT the morning of March 14.

A lunar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow cone. Unlike eclipses of the Sun, the Moon does not completely disappear on this occasion. Instead, it takes on an orange-red color, which is caused by the deflection of the Sun’s red rays by the Earth’s atmosphere towards the Moon during the eclipse. Unfortunately, that orange hue may change to dark grey in this case thanks to particulate matter from California wildfire smoke.

Circumstances of total lunar eclipse

The total lunar eclipse will be visible everywhere in North America (except Alaska), Central America and the western part of South America.

The following times correspond to observation times in Montréal, and vary slightly for Québec as a whole:

• 11:57 p.m. EDT: start of partiality (the Moon enters Earth’s penumbra).
• 1:09 a.m. EDT: start of the eclipse by the umbra.
• 2:26 a.m. EDT: the entire Moon is in the umbra.
• 2:59 a.m. EDT: eclipse maximum (the Moon passes through the umbra’s most central point).
• 3:31 a.m. EDT: the Moon is about to leave Earth’s umbra.
• 4:48 a.m. EDT: the Moon is about to leave Earth’s penumbra.
• 5:59 a.m. EDT: The eclipse ends.

Duration of totality:

• Umbra and penumbra: 6h02m
• Umbra alone: 65 minutes, i.e., 1h05m

This will be the only lunar eclipse visible in Québec in 2025. The next total eclipse of the Moon visible here will take place on the night of March 3, 2026.

How to photograph the total lunar eclipse with a film or digital SLR camera

Observation of lunar eclipses with the naked eye or binoculars does not present any danger, and with the phenomenon unfolding as slowly as it does, it’s easy to photograph. First set your camera’s sensitivity to ISO 400 and the aperture to f/8. Next, adjust your zoom to the maximum: a focal length between 300 and 500 mm is ideal. During partial phases, try shutter speeds of between 1/500th and 1/60th of a second. As totality approaches, vary the exposure time between 1 and 15 seconds. A tripod will be needed for slower shutter speeds. Don’t be afraid to experiment! With digital cameras you get to check your results instantly and make adjustments accordingly.

With a smartphone

(Without tripod) Go to video mode, zoom in to maximum, focus, reduce exposure to minimum, and the Moon’s craters and seas will appear. Start the video, and you can take photos at the same time (white button on the right of the screen). It’s that simple!

The Moon will be putting on a show a second time in March, but with the Sun

On March 29, 2025, exactly 15 days after the total lunar eclipse, a partial eclipse of the Sun will take place between 4:51 a.m. and 8:43 a.m. EDT (before sunrise). Solar eclipses are one of the most impressive astronomical phenomena to observe. Every year, between two and five solar eclipses are visible somewhere on Earth. A partial eclipse can be observed from a vast geographic area, whereas total or annular eclipses are only visible within a narrow band on the Earth’s surface. For any given location, total or annular eclipses happen much more rarely, and observing them usually involves taking a trip.

How to observe the partial solar eclipse in completely safety

We’ll be witnessing a partial eclipse of the Sun this March 29, 2025. That eclipse will be visible starting at sunrise – in fact it will have begun slightly before sunup for North America. To observe it, you’ll need to take the usual precautions of protecting your eyes with eclipse glasses (the same ones you had for the total eclipse on April 8, 2024). Discover our advice for observing the Sun in complete safely.

The partial solar eclipse: where and when to see it

If you look eastward, as soon as the Sun rises, the partial eclipse will already be under way and its maximum already passed, whether you’re on the east or west of an imaginary line between Tadoussac and Rivière-du-Loup.

To the east of that demarcation, the maximum of the partial eclipse (the maximum total area of the Sun covered by the Moon) will be just after sunrise. To the west, however, the maximum will be before sunrise, and will therefore not be visible. The partial eclipse will be of shorter duration.

The partial eclipse won’t be visible to the west of an imaginary line that runs between the towns of Hearst and Mississauga, Ontario. For example, there will be no eclipse in London, Ontario.

Table of local circumstances
for some of Québec’s principal towns

*All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Enjoy your observations!