Ring In 2025 With A Meteor Shower, An Eclipse And A Brilliant Planet In Just 24 Hours
How was 2024 for you? For skywatchers and stargazers, it was a very good year. From a total solar eclipse across North America to a naked-eye comet and a flurry of intense displays of the Northern Lights at low latitudes, there was little 2024 didn’t have.
2025 may have none of these events, but it will start strong, with three notable happenings coming within 24 hours on Jan. 3/4, 2025.
Here's everything you need to know to kick off 2025 with a celestial spectacular — including an option to see each one online.
Friday, Jan. 3, 2025
A stunning scene will await anyone who heads outside and looks to the southwest sky about an hour after the sun dips below the horizon — clear skies allowing. A bright Venus — shining as a brilliant "Evening Star" — will shine brightly, just a couple of degrees away from a delicate 18%-lit waxing crescent moon. Wow! A much dimmer Saturn will hang majestically above them.
The Virtual Telescope will broadcast live views on YouTube starting at 16:45 UTC (11:45 a.m. EST) on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025.
Friday, Jan. 3, 2025
The Quadrantids — which peak just as the sight of the crescent moon and Venus sink towards the horizon — aren't typically on the radar of many sky-watchers, largely because they occur when cold and often cloudy in the Northern Hemisphere. However, if you have a clear sky, it's worth heading outside after dark because the Quadrantids can deliver up to 120 “shooting stars” per hour at their peak, which occurs on Jan. 3.
Not only that, but the Quadrantids can often feature bright fireball meteors that can light up any part of the night sky. The meteors come from the 2003 EH1, a mystery object that NASA says could be a “rock comet."
If you have clouds, The Virtual Telescope will show live views from its wide-angle camera installed in Manciano, Tuscany, Italy, from 17:00 UTC (noon EST) on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025.
Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025
Just 24 hours after seeing Venus in conjunction with a crescent moon and the impending peak of the Quadrantids, a third stunning sight will be visible — an eclipse (or occultation) of Saturn by the moon. However, this one will be geographically limited.
WhereverWherever you are, you'll be able to see Saturn less than a degree below a 28%-lit waxing crescent moon in the southwest about an hour after sunset. As seen only from Europe, Africa, western Russia and eastern Greenland, the moon will occult Saturn, according to in-the-sky.org, which has a helpful map showing the visibility of the occultation worldwide. It's the moon's last easily visible occultation of Saturn for 11 years.
The Virtual Telescope Project will host an online observation from 17:15 UTC (12:15 p.m. EST) on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
See Venus rendezvous with the crescent moon in the night sky tonight (Oct. 5)
On Saturday evening (Oct. 5) as darkness is falling, be sure to take a look low toward the west-southwest part of the sky for a beautiful celestial tableau formed by a lovely crescent moon and the brilliant planet Venus.
The moon will appear to hover about 4-degrees below and to the left of Venus. Your clenched fist held at arm’s length measures roughly 10-degrees. So, the moon and Venus will appear to be less than a "half a fist" apart. These Venus-moon rendezvous occur on roughly a monthly schedule. Indeed, if Venus were stationary and did not appear to move against the star background, then a Venus-moon encounter would occur every 27 days, 7 hours and 43 minutes.
This is called a "sidereal month" which is the length of time it takes the moon to circle the Earth once, using the background stars as a reference point. So, we try to apply the "sidereal month rule" to this schedule, then the next time Venus and the moon should appear to pair-off would be on Nov. 1.
But if you go out and face west-southwest soon after sundown, you'll see Venus, but the moon will be nowhere to be found. What happened?
Of course, that rule won’t work because Venus is not stationary, but is moving in its own orbit around the sun. In fact, the next time that the moon will pass Venus will come on the evening of Nov. 4. From our earthly viewpoint, Venus will appear to move considerably to the east against the star background.
On Monday night (Oct. 7), Venus will be in the constellation Libra, the Scales. But by next month – on Nov. 4 – it will have appeared to have moved about 38-degrees to the east where it will then reside in the non-zodiacal constellation Ophiuchus, the Serpent Holder.
Related: The next solar eclipse will be a partial eclipse in March 2025
So, the moon had to travel that much more across the sky to catch up to Venus. Since the Moon appears to move across the sky at roughly 13-degrees per day, it needs three more days (13 x 3 = 39) to catch up to Venus.
Indeed, on Nov. 4, we will once again we will be treated to an eye-catching sight in our western twilight between the two brightest objects in the night sky.
Incidentally, another factor that must also be considered is our own Earth's movement around the sun. If, in fact, you do look for the crescent moon on Oct. 30 you won't see it because it will be at new phase and hence too near to the sun to be seen. That’s because during the 27 days following Monday night's Venus-moon pairing, the Earth’s movement around the sun will cause the sun’s position in the sky to shift to the east as well.
And so, in this particular case, come Nov. 4, the sun will appear to have shifted right into the very same region that Venus and the moon occupied on Oct. 3. Of course, by Nov. 4, the moon will have moved well clear of the sun and once again will be readily visible in the west-southwest along with Venus.
Now gleaming at magnitude minus 4.0, Venus in the coming weeks and months will ascend dramatically higher in the western sky and by New Year's Day it will be setting more nearly 4 hours after the sun. And by February it incredibly will gleam twice as bright as it shines now.
No other star or planet can come close to matching Venus in brilliance, not even brilliant Jupiter which currently is hidden in the glare of the sun. During World War II, aircraft spotters sometimes mistook Venus for an enemy airplane. There were even cases where Venus drew antiaircraft fire.
And from Thanksgiving through Presidents' Day, it will dominate our evening sky.
Lastly, in addition to Venus teaming up with the moon, it will also be passing rather close to a most notable double star. A low-power scope can also reveal the wide double star Alpha (α) Librae (Zubenelgenubi). This star's tongue-twisting name is derived from the Arabic al-zubānā al-janūbiyy which means "the southern claw." While this star now belongs to the zodiacal constellation of Libra the Scales, at one time in the distant past, it marked the tip of the southern claw of Scorpius the Scorpion.
On Saturday evening, Venus and this star will be less than 1-degree apart. Binoculars will be beneficial in seeing all three: moon, Venus and star against the bright twilight sky.
If you're looking to get a closer view of Venus, the moon and other night sky objects, our best telescopes for beginners guide can help you find what you need. And if something more handheld is your preference, check our our best binoculars guide.
Editor's note: If you take a stunning photo of Venus and the moon and want to share it with Space.com, send images and comments to our skywatching inbox at [email protected].
See the moon and Venus take a sunset stroll through the night sky tonight
Wednesday evening will be another one of those special occasions when the two brightest objects in the night sky will get together and likely will attract a lot of attention, even from those who normally do not spend much time gazing up at the sky.
If you face south-southwest about 45 minutes after sunset during mid-twilight you'll see a beautiful crescent moon. And floating about 3 degrees above it will be the dazzling Evening Star: the planet Venus. Remember that your clenched fist is roughly equal to 10 degrees when held at arm's length. So, Venus will appear about "one-third of a fist" above the moon.
Venus is the one object that has been calling attention to itself as soon as the sun has slipped below the horizon, dazzling in the south-southwest sky, about one-quarter of the way up from the horizon to the overhead point. Predictably, I've gotten quite a few inquiries about it in recent days. Typically, they've gone something like this: "I was out walking last week and was sure I saw a U.F.O. Or maybe it was the International Space Station. Is there anything that could explain this sighting?"
Some folks are rather surprised when they find out that Venus has been an evening object since mid-summer. And yet, most are getting their first good look at it now. Of course, several months ago, Venus was considerably lower in the western sky, and setting much closer to sunset.
But the best is yet to come!
Through the rest of December into January, Venus will climb progressively higher in the sky and consequently will set later after sundown. On Jan. 10, Venus will arrive at its greatest eastern elongation — its greatest angular distance east of the sun. Just a few days later it will be setting almost four full hours after the sun.
And during the first ten days of February, Venus will stand 40 degrees above the southwest horizon at sunset, soaring as high as it will get for this current evening apparition.
Keep in mind that what you will be seeing in Wednesday's sky is an illusion created by the geometry of the positions of Venus and the moon as viewed by from our Earthly perspective. The crescent moon, 13% illuminated, is 244,200 miles (393,000 km) from Earth. But brilliant Venus is 360 times farther away at 88 million miles (142 million km).
On this occasion, this "dynamic duo" do not appear exceptionally close to each other in our sky, but their brilliance and alignment will nonetheless, still make for an eye-catching sight.
Call it a "celestial ornament" for this holiday season.
If you want to try your hand at capturing night sky spectacles like these on camera, we can help you learn and find what you need. Check out our guides on how to photograph the moon or how to photograph the planets to learn more about basic astrophotography and how to shoot the night sky.
And if you need optical equipment or photography gear, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications.
Dark skies: Venus, Jupiter and the Moon pictured across Wales
Stargazers across Wales were able to witness Venus, Jupiter and the Moon aligned in the night sky on Thursday.
The brightest planets in the night sky were visible during a spectacular celestial event known as a conjunction.
According to the UK Space Agency, the two planets reach their apparent closest point at the start of March when they'll appear to form one point.
Take a look at a selection of the best images as people across Wales looked to the skies.
Expect ‘Fireballs’ As Venus Meets The Moon: The Night Sky This Week
Each Monday, I pick out North America’s celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to mid-northern latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere). Check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more.
The sight of Venus and a slim crescent moon — taking place after sunset for three consecutive evenings — is the sky-watching highlight this week. Tuesday will offer the best sight, with the “Evening Star” shining brightly very close to the moon, whose dark limb will display “Earthshine,” delicate light reflected from Earth’s oceans and ice. Beyond that there are bound to be some “fireballs” and, potentially, intense Northern Lights. If you have binoculars then grab a last look at the comet before it leaves the inner solar system.
Here’s everything you need to know about stargazing and sky-watching this week:
With Venus now settling in to its reign as a bright “Evening Star,” it’s visible each evening in the west after sunset. Just 10%-lit tonight, it will shine below-left to Venus. Since the moon will be so slender and so low on the horizon, it won’t be an easy sight. Happily, there are two more chances this week.
Did you see a “shooting star” this week? If so, it was probably a Taurid, a loose meteor from the Southern Taurid meteor shower, which peaks tonight at around midnight. It’s not a major meteor shower, with only about five “shooting stars” per hour, but its peak is not particularly well-defined. So any “shooting stars” you see this week are probably Taurids.
The prospects this week for impressive “shooting stars” are good because as well as the midnight sky being moonless, Taurids tend to be bright “fireballs.” They’re the result of dust and debris left in the inner solar system by Comet 2P/Encke.
Tonight a now 18%-lit waxing crescent moon will be considerably higher in the sky, but also farther from Venus. It will still be a sight worth seeing.
Now 26%-lit, the waxing crescent moon will be much farther from Venus, but the panorama will still be impressive.
Look towards the southwest horizon after darkness sets in, and you’ll see a 45%-lit crescent moon close to the red supergiant star Antares in the constellation Scorpius.
The times and dates given apply to mid-northern latitudes. For the most accurate location-specific information, consult online planetariums like SkySafari Pro, Stellarium and The Sky Live. Check planet-rise/planet-setsunrise/sunset, and moonrise/moonset times to see where you are.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
