What You Need To Know About Sunday's Total Lunar Eclipse

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A total lunar eclipse is expected this weekend in a rare astronomical event that's not expected to be visible again in California until 2018.

The celestial event happens only during a full moon and occurs when the Earth comes between both the sun and the moon fully covering the moon, according to UCR Today.

The publication says the eclipse will be visible from 7:11 p.m. to 8:23 p.m. Pacific time on Sept. 27.

Canada, Africa and western Europe will also be able to see the eclipse which is expected to last just over one hour. In other parts of the world, the eclipse won't be visible at all.

"Lunar eclipses offer us excellent opportunities to see the moon in full detail," Mario De Leo Winkler, a postdoctoral researcher and astronomer, said.

He's organized a viewing party at UCR in Parking Lot 30, Section 3, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Sunday. The school's publication says parking will be free. Click here for more information.

Elsewhere, in Los Feliz, a public viewing event is scheduled at the Griffith Observatory from 6:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. on Sunday.

The event will feature live music provided by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Steinway & Sons. For more details, click here.

As for the next total solar eclipse, one will be viewable in most of the U.S. in two years, says Bonnie Winings, the director of Development and Communications at the Griffith Park Observatory.

"Solar eclipses are a bit more rare than lunar eclipses, so this will be a real opportunity for most Americans to finally see one," wrote Winings in an email to CBS Los Angeles of that eclipse which is expected Aug. 17, 2017. For information about future eclipses, click here.