2025 Celestial Happenings

At the beginning of the year, I load up my calendar with the celestial happenings that are coming up. These include planet events, lunar and solar eclipses, meteor showers, expected comets, Moon phases, and Milky Way core visibility. Interspersed with these events there are delightful surprises, like a juicy CME gracing our skies with aurora or a comet unexpectedly coming into view. 2025 will have 3 supermoons and we will begin 2026 with a supermoon as well! The Milky Way core will become visible in the Northern Hemisphere on January 25th before dawn. With each passing day, it rises earlier and higher in the sky. On November 10th, it will dip below the horizon until January.

Here is a calendar of celestial happenings in 2025. Meteor showers occur every month and dates of the bigger ones are listed. The more prolific meteor showers are particularly noted. Pay attention to the dates of the full and new Moon. These will impact the visibility of meteor showers and the Milky Way so plan accordingly. New Moon and dates around it are ideal for photographing these.

Mark your Calendar

January

2 – Quarantids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Bootes. Viewed December 28-January 7, peaks on the 2nd.

13 – Full Moon.

15 -16 Mars at opposition. Mars in opposition sets up peak viewing when Mars, Earth, and the Sun form a line, with our planet in the middle. Like when the Moon is full, Mars will be fully lit up by the Sun making it look bigger and brighter than usual. It will be visible starting at sunset on January 15th and will be visible all night long. It’s a great time to observe the red planet with binoculars, a telescope, or a telephoto lens.

21 – Planet Parade. Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Saturn — will align in the evening sky in the southwest sky.

29 – New Moon.

February

7 – Alpha Centaurids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Centaurus. (Southern Hemisphere)

12 – Full Moon.

28 – Planet Parade. 7 planets will be visually lined up. Photograph them in a wide-angle landscape with a cool foreground or photograph them individually, the planet parade is very cool to witness.

27 – New Moon.

March

14 – Total Lunar Eclipse. Eclipses are fun to watch and photograph. Lunar eclipses are much easier to capture than the solar versions. At totality, the Moon shines an eerie red. Totality will last 65 minutes! Compare that to a total solar eclipse that ends in a few minutes!

20 = Vernal Equinox. Look for the Zodiacal light in the west. This is best viewed from a dark area just after evening twilight ends

29 – Partial Solar Eclipse – Depending on your location, you can experience and photograph this event. If you are in eastern Canada or the northeastern United States, the eclipse will be an early morning event! Lunar and solar eclipses go hand in hand. They always occur two weeks apart and always occur during full and new Moon events.

SkyLive

April

12 – Full Moon.

21-22 – Lyrid Meteor Shower. Meteor showers are always a blast. The meteors appear all over the sky although they appear to have the radiant (an origination point) in the constellation bearing its name. The Lyrids have their radiant in Lyra.

27 – New Moon.

May

12 – Full Moon.

26 – New Moon.

31 – Tau Herculids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Bootes.

Screenshot from Stellarium desktop with Orion in view.

June

11 – Full Moon

15-16 – June Lyrids meteor shower. The radiant is in the constellation Lyra. It is active June 10-21.

20 – Summer Solstice

25 – New Moon

July

10 – Full Moon

24 – New Moon

29 – Delta Aquarids Meteor shower. The radiant is the Square of Pegasus.

August

9 – Full Moon

12-13 – Perseid Meteor Shower. This might be the most well-known meteor shower thanks to its prolific meteors (100 per hour) and it occurs in summer when you can lie on a beach lounger and gaze up at the show. This year the Moon affects viewing as a full Moon occurs a few days before the peak of the shower. The radiant is in the constellation of Perseus. Although the peak of the meteor shower is on August 12 and 13th, like all meteor showers, the Perseids can be experienced before and after this date, so keep looking up!

By 11 p.m. in mid-August, Perseus is climbing up the northeastern sky — and the Perseids radiant point, just above the Perseus stick figure and below Cassiopeia, is already high enough for the shower to be a little more than half as active as it will be when the radiant is much higher just before dawn. That’s for an observer near 40° north latitude. Seen from farther south rates all night will be a bit lower, especially during the evening.
Sky & Telescope

17 – Kappa Cygnids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Aquarius.

23 – New Moon

September

7 – Full Moon

21 – Saturn at opposition. Like Mars, Saturn will appear biggest and brightest when it reaches opposition on this date. Use a telescope or powerful binoculars to see the rings of this beautiful planet. Look for Titan too, its massive moon!

21 – New Moon

22 – Autumn Equinox. Look for the Zodiacal light in the east. This is best viewed from a dark area just before dawn.

October

6 – Full Moon. First supermoon of the year.

8 – Draconid meteor shower. This meteor shower isn’t as well publicized as the Perseids but it has been known to produce meteor storms. It’s an unpredictable meteor shower and worth the effort to witness it.

9 – Southern Taurids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Taurus.

21 – New Moon

22 – Orionid meteor shower. A doozy of a meteor shower, this one has a long duration. From September 26 through November 22, peaking on October 22nd. This year the peak occurs during a new Moon so we won’t have the bright Moon dimming the meteors. The radiant is the constellation Orion, the most recognized constellation in the night sky.

November

5 – Full Moon. Closest supermoon of the year. This particular supermoon will have its closest distance to Earth at 221,965 miles. Supermoons always occur in sequence, this supermoon being the second one. Supermoons occur because of the oval orbit of our Moon. When the Moon is at closer distances in the oval, it appears 8 to 16 percent bigger.

10 – Northern Taurids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Taurus.

17 – Leonids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Leo.

20 – New Moon

December

4 – Full Moon. Last supermoon of the year.

5 – Sigma Hydrids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Hydra.

7 – Puppid-Velids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Pi Puppid.

8 – Monocerotids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Monoceros and spans November 9 to December 18 .

13 – Geminid meteor shower. This one gets stargazers excited. It is a prolific meteor shower and something about it occurring in December makes it even more magical. The cold December air gives us better atmospheric clarity which makes the meteors more brilliant. The shower, which lasts from December 1 to December 21, will peak on the night of December 13 to 14. During that brief window, up to approximately 120 meteors per hour will cross the sky, best observed under conditions of darkness. The radiant is the constellation Gemini, which the shower is named after.

19 – New Moon.

21 – Ursids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Ursa Minor, near Polaris.

21 – December Solstice.

31 – Coma Berenicids Meteor shower. The radiant is the constellation Bootes and is visible December 8th to January 23rd.

The sky is never boring. Keep looking up!

Which celestial events do you look forward to every year? Let’s hear them in the comments.

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