11 must-see astronomy events in 2025

The new year will be a busy one in the night sky with celestial sights of all types for everyone to enjoy, many of which can be viewed without needing a telescope or traveling hundreds of miles to see. From planetary meet-ups to the first total lunar eclipse in three years, here are the top astronomy events to look for throughout 2025:

Stellar views of Mars will greet stargazers in January as the planet reaches opposition, a time in its orbit around the sun when it is closest to the Earth. The Red Planet will be visible all night during every cloud-free night of January, but the best views will be around the middle of the month. Staying true to its nickname, the planet will appear red or orange in the sky among a sea of countless white stars.

Venus will be the cornerstone of multiple planetary alignments in 2025, the first of which will unfold on Friday, Jan. 17, as it shines side-by-side with Saturn. The duo will appear high in the southwestern sky after nightfall and will gradually slip down toward the horizon before setting around 9 p.m., local time. An encore will be visible the following night.

A lunar eclipse above Lofer, Austrian province of Salzburg, in the early hours of Monday, Sept. 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)

For the first time since 2022, a total lunar eclipse will cause the moon to turn red as it passes through the Earth's shadow. Unlike a total solar eclipse that is visible from only a small area, the upcoming lunar eclipse will be visible across all of North America on the night of Thursday, March 13, into the early morning of Friday, March 14, weather permitting. A second total lunar eclipse will take place on Sept. 7, but it will only be visible in Asia and parts of Europe, Africa and Australia.

Meteor showers will be few and far between during the first half of 2025, but two will peak in the spring sky. The Lyrids will unfold first on the night of Monday, April 21, into Tuesday, April 22, with up to 20 meteors per hour. Just a few weeks later on the night of May 3-4, the Eta Aquarids will peak with up to 30 shooting stars per hour.

The Milky Way seen late on May 10, 2019, from the Uruguayan countryside in the department of Soriano. (MARIANA SUAREZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Summer is the best time of year for seeing the Milky Way, but onlookers will need to travel to a dark area away from human-made light pollution to see the dim glow of the galaxy. Experts recommend stargazing on the nights surrounding the new moon as it is the time when the sky is the darkest. In 2025, the new moons during summer fall on June 25, July 2, Aug. 23 and Sept. 21.

The planets Venus, bottom, and Jupiter, top, light the sky above Matthews, N.C., Monday, June 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Stargazers should prepare to lose sleep on Tuesday, Aug. 12, as two celestial sights unfold. The first event will be visible before sunrise and will feature the two brightest planets in the sky: Venus and Jupiter. The pairing will be easy to see without a telescope, with the planets appearing to be separated by about the width of a pinky finger held out at arm's length.

Hours after the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, the popular Perseid meteor shower will peak, typically one of the best meteor showers of the year. Under ideal conditions, onlookers can count as many as 100 shooting stars per hour, but hourly rates will not be quite as high this year as a nearly full moon will shine bright on the night of Aug. 12 into Aug. 13. Meteors will still be visible by watching darker areas of the sky where the moon is out of view.

For the third time in the year, Venus will be the foundation for a planetary alignment, as it shines with Jupiter and the crescent moon before sunrise on Tuesday, Aug. 19. The trio will be easy to spot in the eastern sky about one to two hours before daybreak. The three celestial objects will once again be visible on the following morning although the moon will be much closer to Venus.

This image shows Saturn with six of its moons, taken on Jan. 26, 2006. (Photo by Jamie Cooper/SSPL/Getty Images)

Get your telescope ready in September, when Saturn will take center stage in the sky and shine brighter than at any other point in the year. The planet will reach opposition on Sept. 21, around the time when it is closest to the Earth, but any cloud-free night will be optimal for spotting the planet after dark. Saturn is bright enough to see with the naked eye, but using a medium-sized telescope will reveal its famous rings.

October will feature the first of three consecutive supermoons, appearing slightly bigger and a bit brighter than other full moon's earlier in the year. The first supermoon will also be the Harvest Moon, the nickname given to the full moon that rises closest to the September equinox. The result will be a "Super Harvest Moon."

The Geminid meteor shower is seen in DAZHUANGKE Great Wall in Beijing, China, Dec. 13, 2020. (Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

One of the best celestial light shows of the year will unfold on the night of Dec. 13 into Dec. 14 as the Geminids peak. Experts say 2025 will be a particularly good year for the annual meteor shower as it will occur on a moonless night, allowing stargazers to see as many as 120 shooting stars per hour.

Correction: A previous version of this article listed the dates of the full moons in the summer in the section about the Milky Way. The article has been updated to list the dates of the new moons in the summer.