Rare total lunar eclipse to occur tonight

A total lunar eclipse will occur overnight today. An eclipse occurs when the earth passes between the full moon and the sun, covering the moon with the Earth's shadow.

This eclipse is rare because it coincides with a supermoon, also known as a blood moon. Even more rare, it will be the Northern Hemisphere's Harvest Moon -- full moon nearest the September equinox.

The event will begin being visible in the early evening, before midnight in North, Central and South America, and after midnight from Europe, South/East Asia, Africa, the Arctic, and in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It will last an hour and 12 minutes.

The last time such a phenomenon occurred was 32 years ago in 1982. There will not be another such eclipse for 18 years.