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Astronomers, sky enthusiasts and stargazers are eagerly looking forward to 2025. There will be more to see than there has been for a long time. For the head of the Vienna Astronomy Association (WAA), Alexander Pikhard, 2025 will be an “amazing year.”
The highlights of the astronomy year 2025:
Partial solar eclipse (29.3.)
Total lunar eclipse (14.3.)
Total lunar eclipse (7.9.)
Shooting star swarms (e.g. on 13.8.)
Star explosion in the “T Coronae Borealis” system (date not yet fixed)
A solar eclipse can also be seen in Austria
The partial solar eclipse is on 29 March. From Austria, the sun will be eclipsed by 14 percent (in relation to its diameter).
The celestial spectacle begins at 11.40 a.m. (in Vienna); the maximum occultation is at 12.17 p.m.
The eclipse will last one hour and eleven minutes. Sufficient protection, such as eclipse glasses or solar filter film, is required for observation. The second partial solar eclipse on 21 September 2025 cannot be seen from Austria, only from the South Pacific and New Zealand.
Total lunar eclipse in March and September
2025 can also boast not just one total lunar eclipse but two. They will be partially visible in Austria. The first one on March 14 is less spectacular: when the moon sets at 6.15 a.m. (Vienna), it will only be nine percent eclipsed in the umbra.
The eclipse on 7 September will be more beautiful: at the moonrise at 7.21 p.m. (Vienna), 86 percent of the Earth’s satellites will already be in the Earth’s umbra. The total eclipse begins at 7.30 p.m. and lasts until 8.53 p.m.
When the chance of seeing shooting stars is greatest
You can see shooting stars all year round when the sky is clear, but it is particularly worth looking up at the sky when the Earth crosses a comet’s orbit as it orbits the sun. This is when so-called shooting star swarms appear, the intensity of which varies yearly.
The number of shooting stars seen also depends on the prevailing phase of the moon, which does not fall very favorably in 2025. Regarding temperature, the Perseid meteor shower is probably the most pleasant to observe. It promises many shooting stars in the days around its maximum on 13 August.
Star explosion is the highlight of the year
A new star should also appear in the constellation in 2025—at least for a few days. Astronomers have been expecting a stellar explosion in the star system “T Coronae Borealis,” around 3,000 light years away, for months.
As bright as the North Star
“All previous forecasts have not held true; this can happen at any time,” said Michael Jäger, Chairman of the Martinsberg Astronomical Center (AZM) in the Waldviertel region of Lower Austria. T Coronae Borealis” is a binary star system in which a white dwarf, the final stage of a giant sun, sucks matter from its neighboring star. This process discharges in a nuclear explosion approximately every 80 years once a critical limit is exceeded. As soon as this happens, “T Coronae Borealis” will shine as brightly as the North Star for about a week; it can be found in the constellation of the Northern Crown.
Planetary parade: Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars at the same time
Many amateur astronomers are also interested in occultations of stars and planets by the moon; this will be the case next year with Saturn (4.1.) and Venus (19.9.), among others. Venus will also have double visibility in the evening and morning skies (March 18-21). And right at the beginning of the year, there will be a big planetary parade in the evening: Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will be visible simultaneously, says Jäger.
Northern lights in Austria: extremely high chance
Because the current solar cycle is just reaching its maximum, experts can already make fairly accurate forecasts for auroras. Overall, Christian Möstl, Head of the Space Weather Office at Geosphere Austria, expects that roughly the same number of solar storms will hit the Earth in 2025 as in the year 2024, which is coming to an end when there were around 40 to 50. “In our experience, at this level of solar activity, around ten percent of these, i.e., three to five, have the potential for auroras in Austria,” says Möstl.
As fascinating as the sight of the aurora borealis is, Möstl hopes that the solar storms are not too strong and that there are, therefore, only minor or no problems with the technical infrastructure, such as satellites, which can be disrupted by the geomagnetic storms emanating from the sun.
- source: freizeit.at/picture: pixabay.com
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