solar eclipse 2012

The partial solar eclipse targeting L.A., beginning Sunday at 5:24 p.m. and reaching its maximum shadow at 6:38 p.m., will cover up about 85% of the sun's diameter, leaving behind a very skinny C-shaped sun.

That's because Sunday's eclipse is the closest Los Angeles will be to a full eclipse for the next 59 years, according to calculations by NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak.

For Los Angeles, there will be three other major partial solar eclipses between Sunday and 2071.

In 2023, 78% of the sun’s diameter will be blocked by the moon. The next two major shows will see the moon shadowing over 83% of the sun's diameter in 2044 and 2045.The 2071 eclipse will cover up 91% of the sun's diameter.

But for those who missed the full "ring of fire" eclipse in Los Angeles in 1992, that will be the last such eclipse to hit our area in our lifetime. The next one to hit Los Angeles will be in 2121. (A "ring" eclipse, or "annular" eclipse, is one where the moon blocks so much of the sun's center that all that is left visible is a "ring of fire" on the sun's outer edge. "Annular" means ring in Latin.)