The new year begins with planets filling our evening sky.
Throughout January and February, we’ll see Venus blazing in the western sky at dusk until early March, when it becomes too low to see over the glare of the setting sun.
Turn around and face the opposite direction at dusk and you’ll find Jupiter, another bright planet that will grace the evening sky throughout the first half of the year.
Perhaps the most interesting planet of this period will be Mars. Reaching its “opposition” point to the sun on Jan. 16, it will lie as close to us as it will get this year and should be marvelous for up-close telescopic viewing.
The Red Planet will drift through four separate constellations during the first half of the year, during which time it will recede farther from Earth and become a dozen times fainter.
And this year Saturn will become the planet with no rings!
Yes, you read that right.
During 2025 our orbit carries us across the ring plane of this planet, and since the rings are 180,000 miles wide but barely a mile thick, they will seem to nearly disappear from view.
The rings will begin to reappear next year and will return to their full glory by 2032.
Eclipses will be in short supply for North Americans this year, but we will be treated to a beautiful total eclipse of the moon.
On the night of March 13 and the morning of March 14, the full moon will enter the dark umbral shadow of the Earth. If the sky is clear, you will see the moon disappear except for the deep coppery color it takes on during totality.
Meteor shower fans will have to fight moonlight for one of the year’s best displays. The Perseids will reach their peak on the night of Aug. 12-13 but will be accompanied during most of the night by light from a waning gibbous moon so that only the brightest of meteors may be visible.
The Geminids will peak on the night of Dec. 13-14 this year, and they’ll share a waning crescent moon in the predawn sky, so we can expect a pretty nice show.
This year the sun reaches the height of its 11-year solar activity cycle, and we can expect some beautiful aurora displays to make their way down over more southerly parts of North America.
During 2024, skywatchers throughout North America got a few rare glimpses of the northern lights, so we hope they’ll return for an encore performance this year.
To keep up with current solar and auroral activity, visit spaceweather.com or get an app or two for your smartphone. Two of my favorites are AmazingAurora and AuroraAlerts.
Of course, our view from the lower 48 pales in comparison to that seen regularly in the Arctic and subarctic.
If this amazing sight is on your bucket list, I hope you’ll join me for my exciting March 2025 Alaska Northern Lights tour. For details about this once-in-a-lifetime cosmic adventure, please email me at dennis@mammana.com.
In the meantime, I wish everyone a healthy, safe and star-filled new year!
