Saturn will lose its rings, and planets will align for a parade: we share the most fascinating astronomical events of 2025.

Have you never been interested in astronomy? Now is the perfect time to look up: in the coming 2025, the beauty in the sky will be so breathtaking that you’ll forget everything else. Here’s what you need to know.

ALL PLANETS ON PARADE

Can you simply step outside and see all the planets at once? Is it possible? Right now – yes. There’s a planetary parade happening in the sky.

Media outlets report that this phenomenon will occur on January 21 (others say the 25th). But that’s not true. It’s already happening. As the evening falls and the sky is clear, we can see it for ourselves.

Just an hour ago, the Sun set, and in the southeast, a bright light glimmers – it’s Venus. You can’t miss it. And what’s that star next to it? It’s Saturn, you won’t believe it! Two such different and distant planets, and you’re witnessing them in one glance.

Photo: Shutterstock.

We turn our heads to the left and see an incredibly bright (though dimmer than Venus) star – Jupiter, the king of the planets! Further left (with our gaze now towards the east) – who is rising from behind the buildings, sparkling, red as a ruby? It’s Mars!

So, we have just seen (almost) all the planets known to ancient times and visible to the naked eye. Confused by the “almost”? Just wait until the end of February. The sky won’t change dramatically. But Mercury will appear near Venus. Now we can say – without the “almost.”

But we were told in school that there are also Uranus and Neptune in the Solar System… No problem. Let’s grab a pair of binoculars and shift slightly up and to the right from Jupiter. At some point, you will spot a green, somewhat “large” star. It’s Uranus! I can’t guarantee you’ll find it easily without experience, especially in an urban sky, but it’s there.

Just like Neptune. Take the familiar pair of Venus-Saturn and, with binoculars, slide slightly to the left. Among the stars, one stands out with a heavenly blue, unnatural color. Yes, that’s him, Neptune. He’s dimmer than Uranus, but much farther away.

There have been many “planetary parades” over the years, but I don’t recall one where all the planets are truly together.

WHEN PLANETS FRIENDLY ALIGN

Since the planets have gathered so closely, they will inevitably form tight pairs. It’s beautiful. The play of colors and intertwining rays is mesmerizing. And astrologers know what these events signify (see, by the way).

Let’s start with Venus and Saturn – we’ve already noticed how close they are. On January 19, they will be just 2 angular degrees apart (about 4 visible lunar disks). They won’t fit in one field of view of a telescope, but they will be perfect for binoculars.

Taking advantage of this, I’ll give you some advice. If you’re thinking about buying a telescope but have no experience, don’t buy one just yet. Get a pair of binoculars! Even a cheap one. It will vastly expand your horizons, and your eyes will get used to the sky. Binoculars are a powerful tool for exploration; don’t ignore them. You can study the Moon, bright nebulae, stars, constellations… And then you can consider a telescope.

Binoculars will come in handy at least two more times. On April 4, Mercury and Neptune will align very closely. They will be just 41 angular minutes apart (slightly more than the visible size of the lunar disk). And on August 12, there will be another close encounter between Venus and Jupiter. But both events are for early risers; you’ll need to observe them in the morning.

WHEN VENUS TRANSFORMS INTO THE MOON

After appearing in the evening sky at the end of last year, Venus has already made a stir. People on social media were asking: what is that bright star hanging in the south after sunset, a UFO? It does resemble a UFO. Venus is so bright that it seems to move erratically to the eye. But that was just the beginning.

By the end of February, Venus will reach its maximum brightness, becoming the third brightest object in the sky, after the Sun and the Moon. And that’s when you’ll need your binoculars.

Point your binoculars at Venus… what’s that? It looks like the Moon! A crescent, horns. This is exactly what Galileo observed many centuries ago. And it was a powerful argument in favor of Copernicus’s theory (that the Sun is at the center of our system, not the Earth). Being closer to the Sun than we are, Venus should show “lunar” phases. You can even photograph the crescent of Venus with a telephoto lens.

By the end of February, Venus will reach its maximum brightness.

Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS.

Another fun activity: find a dark spot, turn your back to Venus, and photograph your shadow cast by it. Yes, the planet will be so bright that your body will cast a shadow from it. Isn’t that amazing?

Another Venusian wonder awaits us at the end of March (between the 18th and 21st). Is Venus the morning star or the evening star? What if it’s both at the same time? That’s exactly what will happen. And such occurrences are rare. When you go to sleep – it’s Venus, when you wake up – it’s still Venus. An unusual combination, let’s say, of the curvature of the solar path (the ecliptic) and the visible orbit of the planet itself.

SOLAR ECLIPSE DARKENS THE SKY

On March 29, keep a close watch on the Sun. If you’re in Moscow, around 2:30 PM, the Moon will suddenly touch it, and an eclipse will begin. Unfortunately, in Moscow, it will be weak. It will end just an hour later. And if you forget about the eclipse and just “live,” you might not notice anything.

However, on the Kola Peninsula, the Moon will cover almost half of the Sun. Here, there will be no doubt: it will darken significantly.

It would be nice to also observe a lunar eclipse! Let’s wait until September 7 – and it will happen. In Moscow, the Moon (around 7:30 PM) will rise already eclipsed, and the entire phenomenon will unfold before the amazed eyes. The full Moon will appear not as a bright, sparkling “disk,” but as a red “ghost,” immersed in the Earth’s shadow.

Unfortunately, we will not see two eclipses (March 14 – lunar, September 21 – solar) from Russia. Although the lunar eclipse will be slightly visible in Chukotka.

SUMMER OF THE DISTANT SUN

Summer is the time when in central Russia, and further north, there’s essentially no night. Astronomers are delighted only by the silvery clouds that illuminate the northern horizon in June and July, but we can’t predict whether the year will be fruitful for them. So any phenomenon in the sky is worth our attention.

The Earth orbits the Sun in an elongated path, so the day star is sometimes closer and sometimes farther away, and on July 5, at 8 AM Moscow time, we will reach aphelion: we will be at the maximum distance from the main star, 152 million kilometers. The summer Sun appears noticeably smaller to the eye than the winter Sun (we already passed the closest point to Earth, perihelion, on January 4). How to witness this for yourself without losing your eyesight, we will explain closer to the date.

AUGUST METEOR SHOWER

Every year, as the days begin to shorten but the nights are still warm, we look forward to the Perseid meteor shower in August. Unfortunately, we can’t predict in advance whether the falling stars will be plentiful or not. Experts report on this the day before, and the forecast is still not precise. However, stars will fall! – that’s a certainty. In 2025, however, a nearly full Moon will hinder the view (the peak of the shower is expected on August 12, with a full moon on the 9th).