“Celestial Wonders Await: Your Ultimate Guide to 2025’s Skywatching Events!”

This year promises a lot in the realm of space — featuring meteor showers, eclipses, rocket launches, supermoons, and much more.

We examined various events that you can prepare for — whether that involves braving the cold to witness a shooting star or streaming a live broadcast to see a rocket head toward the moon.

Investigating the moon

NASA is persistently advancing its initiative to investigate more of the moon than ever through its Firefly lander. Firefly will transport six experiments to the lunar surface — a mission aimed at examining the moon’s environment before returning humans to the surface.

Firefly’s initial lunar delivery is planned to launch no earlier than mid-January this year, targeting a landing near a volcanic feature named Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, located on the northeast quadrant of the moon’s near side.

It will take off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center alongside the JAXA Resilience (Hakuto M2) mission.

SpaceX

SpaceX is gearing up to escalate Starship test launches this year, driven by billionaire Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of the commercial space transportation enterprise.

This initiative is set to dramatically raise the number of flight tests of the SpaceX rockets from five in 2024 to 25 demonstrations this year.

Supermoons

This year, there will be three supermoons — all occurring in the latter half of the year.

As per NASA, the moon orbits around Earth in an elliptical path, or an elongated circle, with our planet situated nearer to one side of the ellipse. Every month, the moon traverses the point closest to Earth (perigee) and the point farthest from Earth (apogee).

When the moon reaches or is close to its nearest point to Earth while simultaneously being full, it is referred to as a supermoon. During this phenomenon, the full moon is nearer to Earth than usual, causing it to appear particularly large and radiant in the sky.

When the moon is at its closest to Earth, it appears up to 14% larger than when it is at its farthest point. Its proximity will enhance the moon’s brightness.

Make sure to observe a supermoon on three distinct occasions in consecutive months — on Oct. 6, Nov. 5, and Dec. 4.

Eclipses

There will be a partial solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse observable from North America in 2025.

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon aligns between the sun and Earth, entirely concealing the sun’s face. During this event, the sky will dim, like it is dawn or dusk.

A partial solar eclipse will take place in the early morning of March 29. The optimal views are anticipated to be from the northern New England states, such as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts, as reported by timeanddate.com. This will be observable from 6:13 a.m. to 7:17 a.m. Eastern time in the U.S.

The state of New York can expect about 22% of the sun to be obscured during the eclipse, with maximum coverage around 6:46 a.m.

According to NASA, a lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth, and moon align to allow the moon to move into Earth’s shadow. In a total lunar eclipse, the entire moon enters the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra. When the moon occupies the umbra, it will take on a reddish tint.

This will occur from March 13-14 and will be visible in New York state from 11:57 p.m. on March 13 until 6 a.m. the following day.

Lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse will take place early on March 14 as the moon approaches fullness. For just over an hour, the moon will resemble a “blood moon,” turning reddish-orange as it glides through Earth’s shadow.

Light reflecting from the sun renders the moon to appear illuminated in that rusty hue.

If you’re curious, you don’t require any special safety glasses to observe a lunar eclipse.

Meteor showers

The New Year commenced with the peak of the Quadrantids on Jan. 2 into Jan. 3 — offering 20 to 30 meteors per hour under clear, dark conditions at its peak.

With no moonlight present, you’re likely to see meteors blazing across the twilight sky.

There will be numerous other meteor showers throughout 2025, including the thrilling Perseids in August.

Here’s a compilation of meteor showers and their peak dates, according to the American Meteor Society.

Lyrids: April 21-22

Eta Aquariids: May 3-4

Southern Delta Aquariids: July 29-30

Alpha Capricornids: July 29-30

Perseids: August 12-13

Draconids: October 8-9

Orionids: October 22-23

Southern Taurids: November 3-4

Northern Taurids: November 8-9

Leonids: November 16-17

Geminids: December 12-13

Ursids: December 21-22