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Keep an eye on the sky Monday evening to see the wolf moon, the first full moon of the year. And some sky-gazers will be able to glimpse a cosmic magic trick when the moon appears to pass in front of Mars.
The full moon will be at peak illumination at 5:27 p.m. ET Monday but will appear full into Wednesday morning, according to NASA.
Viewers in most of the continental United States, eastern Canada, and parts of Africa and Mexico can look for a celestial triangle in the sky when evening twilight ends at 6:11 p.m. ET. Mars will appear just to the lower left of the moon, while the bright star Pollux will be a few degrees to the upper left of the moon, according to NASA.
Times for the moon passing in front of Mars will vary, so be sure to check your favorite sky-watching app. For those on the US East Coast, Mars will disappear behind the bottom of the moon around 9:16 p.m. ET and reappear behind the upper right of the moon at 10:31 p.m. ET.
January’s full moon is commonly called the wolf moon because wolves are active this time of year and can be heard howling on cold winter nights, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. The origin of the name stems from the Sioux language, which describes this moon as “wolves run together.”
But this wintry full moon also goes by other monikers. It’s known as the cold moon to the Cherokee people, the hard moon to the Lakota and the whirling wind moon to the Passamaquoddy tribe. European names also include the ice moon, the old moon or the moon after Yule, originally a three to 12-day festival that occurred in pre-Christian Europe near the winter solstice, according to NASA.
January’s full moon also ties in with the beginning of the Hindu pilgrimage and 44-day festival of Prayag Kumbh Mela, held every 12 years in the Indian city of Prayagraj.
The full moon will be visible around the world, weather permitting. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, bundle up to stay warm and enjoy the view.
After Mars does its disappearing trick behind the moon, look for the red planet to appear at its closest and brightest on Wednesday. During January, Mars is at opposition, meaning it’s directly opposite the sun from the vantage point of Earth. As the two planets travel along their orbital paths, Earth will be between Mars and the sun.
The red planet will shine brightly each evening, according to NASA. Look for it in the east each night, as well as in the northwest at dawn.
Mars isn’t the only planet to keep an eye out for this month. Sky-gazers can look forward to catching glimpses of four bright planets at the same time in the night sky.
Venus and Saturn will appear in the southwest, Jupiter will gleam overhead, and Mars will appear to rise in the east. The planets will appear to rotate westward around the bright star Polaris and will be visible each night beginning early in the evening.
Venus and Saturn will slowly appear to come close together in the night sky during what’s called the Venus and Saturn conjunction, although they are hundreds of millions of miles apart. The two planets will appear the nearest to one another on Friday and Saturday because of the positions of their orbits around the sun.
Uranus and Neptune will be visible, too, albeit with the aid of binoculars or telescopes, according to EarthSky.
While some may rush to call this parade a special alignment of the planets, there’s nothing unusual about it — although seeing four or five bright planets in the night sky at once is less common.
Planets always appear along a line in the sky because they all orbit the sun in a mostly flat plane called the ecliptic.
“Planets in our solar system, when they are visible, are always in a line because they follow the path of the sun — the ecliptic — across our sky. But they aren’t in a line stretching out, one behind another, from the sun, into 3-dimensional space,” according to EarthSky.
So, enjoy the spectacle as bright planets appear to march across the night sky this month, and if you want to glimpse even more, set up a telescope and potentially spot moons around some of these neighboring worlds.
Check out the following events occurring in our skies to add to your calendar.
February 12: Snow moon
March 14: Worm moon
April 12: Pink moon
May 12: Flower moon
June 11: Strawberry moon
July 10: Buck moon
August 9: Sturgeon moon
September 7: Corn moon
October 6: Harvest moon
November 5: Beaver moon
December 4: Cold moon
In 2025, there will be two partial solar eclipses. A partial solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, but none of the celestial bodies is perfectly aligned, according to NASA.
Unlike during a total solar eclipse, the moon only blocks part of the sun’s face, creating a crescent shape in which it appears the moon is taking a “bite” out of the sun.
The first partial solar eclipse will happen on March 29, and it will be visible across parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America.
The second partial solar eclipse will fall on September 21 and be visible over parts of Australia and Antarctica as well as some islands in the Pacific Ocean.
There will also be two total lunar eclipses that occur during the March and September full moon events. A lunar eclipse, which causes the moon to look dark or dimmed, occurs when Earth is between the sun and moon and the three celestial objects line up in a row so that the moon passes into our planet’s shadow.
When the moon is within the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra, it takes on a reddish hue, which has led to the nickname “blood moon” for a lunar eclipse, according to NASA. That shadow isn’t perfect, so faint sunbeams sneak around the shadow’s edges on all sides in the colors of a sunset, bathing the moon in brilliant, warm hues.
The first total lunar eclipse will be visible between March 13-14 and cross over Western Europe, parts of Asia, parts of Australia, western Africa, North and South America, and Antarctica. The second total lunar eclipse will occur on September 7-8 and be visible from Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, parts of eastern South America, Alaska and Antarctica.
Check Time and Date’s website to see when each of these eclipses will appear and the locations that will be able to view them.
Here are peak dates for upcoming annual meteor showers, 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
