Another year of skywatching is upon us, and there’s a lot to look forward to in 2025!
Here’s a rundown of some of the more noteworthy sky events – including several meteor showeroccultation Mars The Pleiades star cluster, “ringless” Saturn, and the first total lunar eclipse in the United States since 2022 – will occur this year.
space network Night sky column Most events will be covered more extensively as they approach.
Joe Rao is a veteran meteorologist and eclipse tracker, as well as an instructor and guest lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium in New York.
January 3: Quadrantid meteor shower— This very sharp meteor display is expected to reach its maximum at 1400 GMT today. This favors the west coast of North America, where dawn will break as the Quad reaches its peak. An observer in a dark sky can see 60 to 120 meteors per hour. Farther east, morning twilight and sunrise will intervene, but plenty of meteors are still expected. The moon does not cause any disturbance.
Related: Meteor Showers: When is the next meteor shower?
January 9: The moon obscures the Pleiades star cluster— In the evening, a waxing gibbous Moon will pass through this famous open star cluster. this Pleiades Best viewed with binoculars or a small, low-powered telescope. Stars will disappear along the unilluminated part of the moon and reappear along the bright side about an hour later.
Winter turns to early spring: “Venus Show”— The brightest planet dazzles skywatchers on nights in January and February, flying high into the western sky nearly four hours after the sun sets, becoming so bright it casts shadows. In March, it sets toward the sun, but even in binoculars it appears as a beautiful, elongated crescent. Venus Transitioning to April morning skies, this time reappearing as a magnificent predawn object in early spring.
January 13: Moon obscures Mars— At night, the full moon will pass in front of Mars. Mars is only two days away from opposition and is almost as bright as Mars. Siriusthe brightest star in the sky.
February 6: The Moon once again obscures the Pleiades star cluster— The Moon once again passes in front of the Pleiades star cluster, but this time it occurs after midnight, low in the west-northwest sky. The Midwestern United States is expected to see this; in the Eastern United States, this incident occurred in moon Across the horizon or after the moon sets.
March 13-14: Total lunar eclipse —This event is very favorable for the Americas, including Alaska and Hawaii, because it is this region of the world with over a billion people that will turn toward the moon as it begins to pass through the Earth’s shadow. this lunar eclipse The event mainly takes place after midnight in the eastern half of the North American continent, while those further west watch mainly during the late night hours of March 13.
March 23 to May 6: Most of Saturn’s rings disappear — Looking through a telescope, the famous halo system saturn It seems to disappear. From our perspective on Earth, the rings will turn toward Earth on March 23; the rings will then tilt so that we no longer see their northern half, but instead see their southern half. However, the Sun still shines on the northern half of the ring; the southern half is dark, so we can’t see it. We’ll have to wait until May 6, when sunlight finally begins to illuminate the southern half of the ring system. They will then reappear as a thin, bright line on Saturn’s disk. But within 44 days, the rings will be barely visible even in the largest telescopes.
Related: The best telescopes: Observe stars, galaxies, nebulae, planets, and more
March 29: Partial solar eclipse — The moon’s shadow cone, from whence the total eclipse It can be seen that it will completely miss the Earth and fly about 180 miles (290 kilometers) over the North Pole. But the Moon’s outer shadow, or penumbra, will scrape off part of the Northern Hemisphere, causing a partial solar eclipse that will be visible to varying degrees from northwestern Africa, much of Europe (except for some eastern areas), and northwestern Russia. Greenland and part of eastern North America
June 29: Moon and Mars pairing — The Moon and Mars also have another fairly close interaction. This time, the Moon is a crescent, and at night it will appear to slip beneath Mars, which has faded significantly since last January. Still, as night falls, the pair of stars make a beautiful sight in the west-southwest sky.
July 20: Third Pleiades occultation— If you look at it from a purely aesthetic standpoint, this might be the best Moon/Pleiades interaction of 2025. As seen from the eastern United States, an elongated waning crescent moon will approach the Seven Sisters before dawn, but will not begin to hide any stars until the dawn sky begins to brighten about an hour before sunrise. Further west, the sky will be darker and you’ll be able to easily see the Moon covering and revealing the members of this cluster. Binoculars or a small low-power telescope will enhance the “Da Vinci glow” (Earthshine), which will give the moon a dramatic 3D appearance.
August 11-12: Perseid meteors by moonlight— Unfortunately, this year’s famous meteor shower will be hindered by the bright gibbous moon, which will rise around 9:20 pm on August 11 and 9:45 pm on August 12, obscuring many Darker meteors. but still, Perseid meteor shower Occasionally bright fireballs or meteors are produced that appear to explode in flight (called bolides), so they are worth the effort to find despite the Moon’s presence. Such meteors are spectacular and bright enough to attract people’s attention even in moonlight.
August 11-13: Venus/Jupiter no of two — A duet in which two dancers (usually a man and a woman) perform ballet steps together is a pas de deux, Jupiter Venus will do the celestial version of this three mornings in a row. On August 11, the two brightest planets will rise side by side in the east-northeast about three hours before sunrise. On August 12, Venus will move significantly to the lower right of Jupiter, as the two will be closest, only 0.8 degrees apart. Finally, on August 13, the pair will separate, with Venus now directly beneath Jupiter.
September 7: Total lunar eclipse — Think of this as the other side of the coin Lunar eclipse last March. The Moon will once again pass directly into the Earth’s shadow, allowing people in Central Africa, Eastern Europe, East Asia, Japan, Indonesia and Australia to enjoy the event. Unfortunately, these won’t be visible from the Americas because the moon will be below the horizon and it will be daytime during the eclipse.
September 21: Partial solar eclipse — The Moon’s outer shadow, or penumbra, interacts with large areas of the South Pacific and Southern Ocean. Shortly after local sunrise, New Zealand will experience considerable solar shading: 61% in Auckland and 73% in Oban. Parts of Antarctica will even be covered in more sunlight, but the only ones who will see it may be penguins.
November 5: Supermoon— The moon will officially become full on this day at 8:19 a.m. ET. And because this month’s full moon coincides with the moon’s perigee (its closest point to Earth), about nine hours later it will also be the largest full moon of the year. The Moon is just 221,726 miles (356,833 kilometers) away from our planet, providing skywatchers with a view of an extra-large, ultra-bright moon nicknamed “supermoon”.
December 14: Geminid Meteor Shower— This is quite possibly one of the most reliable and best shooting star displays of the year. Up to 75 slow and elegant Geminid meteor shower Visible once an hour under ideal conditions. This year, the moon is a waning crescent with little disruption. These meteors appear to emanate from a point in the sky near the Geminid Pollux (hence the name “Geminid meteor shower”), which can be quite high in the northeastern sky as early as 10 p.m., even when the narrow Showers with the moon in the sky are still worth seeing. Remember to bundle up!
Joe Rao serves as a lecturer and guest lecturer at New York University Hayden Planetarium. For which he wrote articles about astronomy journal of natural historythis farmers almanac and other publications.