“Starry Wonders Ahead: Your Ultimate 2025 Cosmos Adventure Guide!”

The upcoming year will unveil a duo of lunar eclipses, but don’t anticipate any sun-blocking spectacles like the one that captivated North America last spring.

While the planet will need to wait until 2026 for the next complete solar eclipse, the universe guarantees an abundance of other captivating moments in 2025. It is commencing the year with a parade of six planets in January that will be observable for weeks. Tiny Mercury will make an appearance for a seven-planet display in February.

Already, five planets are scattered across the firmament — excluding Mars and Mercury — although binoculars or telescopes are required to locate some of them shortly after sunset.

“People ought to venture out and observe them at some point in the coming weeks. I definitely will,” stated Bruce Betts, the Planetary Society’s lead scientist.

Here’s a preview of what lies ahead:

Eclipses

The moon will disappear for over an hour across North and South America on March 14, followed by a partial solar eclipse two weeks later, visible from Maine, eastern Canada, Greenland, Europe, Siberia, and northwestern Africa.

This cosmic double feature will occur again in September with a longer total lunar eclipse occurring over Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, alongside a partial solar eclipse two weeks later near the southern hemisphere.

Supermoons

This year will witness three supermoons in October, November, and December.

During these three months, the full moon will appear especially large and luminous as it revolves closer to Earth than is typical.

The supermoon in November will be the closest, passing within 356,980 kilometers. The previous year showcased four supermoons, concluding in November.

Planet Parade

Six out of our seven neighboring planets will align in the sky, forming a long arc around mid-January. All except Neptune and Uranus should be visible to the naked eye just after sunset, conditions permitting.

This parade will persist for weeks, with some planets occasionally coming closer together. Mercury is set to make a brief appearance by the end of February. The planets will gradually depart, one by one, throughout the spring.

Northern and Southern Lights

Last year, the sun exhibited significant activity, illuminating the sky with stunning auroras in unexpected locations.

Space weather analysts forecast more geomagnetic storms that may generate additional northern and southern lights.

This is due to the sun currently being at its solar maximum during its ongoing 11-year cycle, which could extend into this year. Shawn Dahl from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration encourages everyone to stay updated on space weather developments to avoid missing any spontaneous dazzling displays.

Meteor Showers

The Perseids and Geminids are perennial favorites, peaking in August and December, respectively. However, do not overlook the smaller, less spectacular meteor showers like the Lyrids in April, the Orionids in October, and the Leonids in November.

The darker the location and the fainter the moon, the better the viewing experience will be. Meteor showers are typically named after the constellation where they seem to originate. They occur whenever Earth travels through streams of debris left behind by comets and occasionally by asteroids.