Despite the cold, with the longest nights of the year, winter is a great time for stargazing, planet viewing, and meteor watching. Plus, winter 2024-2025 features a special treat — a total lunar eclipse visible across all of Canada.
Here’s what to look for in the night sky this winter:
Dec 21: Winter Solstice
Dec 21-22: Ursid meteor shower peak
Jan 3: Venus near Crescent Moon, Saturn nearby (SW sky, evening)
Jan 3-4: Quadrantid meteor shower peak
Jan 4: Earth at perihelion (closest to the Sun for 2025)
Jan 4: Saturn near Crescent Moon, Venus nearby (SW sky, evening)
Jan 12: Mars at closest approach (brightest for 2025)
Jan 13-14: Full Wolf Moon
Jan 15-16: Mars at Opposition
Jan 17-20: Saturn and Venus close together (W sky, evening)
Jan 21: Six-planet “parade” across the sky
Jan 31: Saturn near Crescent Moon, Venus nearby (W sky, evening)
Feb 1: Venus near Crescent Moon, Saturn nearby (W sky, evening)
Feb 7: Jupiter near Gibbous Moon
Feb 9: Mars near Gibbous Moon
Feb 11-12: Full Snow Moon
Mar 9: Mars near Gibbous Moon
Mar 12: Venus & Mercury close together (E sky, predawn)
Mar 13-14: Full Worm Micromoon and Total Lunar Eclipse
Mar 20: Spring Equinox
Visit our Complete Guide to Winter 2025 for an in-depth look at the Winter Forecast, tips to plan for it, and much more!
On December 21, the Sun will reach its southernmost point in the skies of Earth. This marks the date of the Winter Solstice, which is the first day of astronomical winter for the northern hemisphere.
The exact timing of winter solstice across Canada is:
5:51 a.m. NST,
5:21 a.m. AST,
4:21 a.m. EST,
3:21 a.m. CST,
2:21 a.m. MST, and
1:21 a.m. PST.
The winter solstice is the longest night of the year for those of us north of the equator, and thus the 21st will be the shortest day.
How much daylight you see will depend on exactly where you live. Those locations farther south will see the Sun for longer, while those more to the north will see less. Above the Arctic Circle, the Sun will not rise again until well into 2025.
Kingsville, ON (the southernmost community in Canada) will see 9 hours, 06 minutes and 43 seconds of daylight on both December 20 and 21. In Edmonton, AB, the largest city so far north in North America, they will have 7 hours, 27 minutes, and 40 seconds of daylight on those days. Meanwhile, Iqaluit, NU, will have with only 4 hours, 20 minutes, and 8 seconds of daylight.
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Look up on any night and you might spy a meteor zipping across the sky above as Earth sweeps up some random piece of interplanetary debris. At certain times of the year, though, this becomes more concentrated and seemingly organized, as we see several meteors per hour that appear to originate from the same point in they sky. These are known as meteor showers, and each is named for constellation that they appear to stream out of.
During the winter months, there are two meteor showers — the Ursids and the Quadrantids.
The Ursids
The Ursid meteor shower is a relatively minor one that is active between mid-to-late December. The night of the Winter Solstice, on December 21-22, is when this shower reaches its peak.
Ursid meteors appear to originate from the constellation Ursa Minor — the Little Dipper. Being so high in the night sky, the Ursids are visible from sunset to sunrise. However, the best time to see them will likely be in the hours before midnight, before the Moon rises.
The radiant of the Ursid meteor shower, near the Little Dipper, overnight on December 21-22, 2024. (Stellarium/Scott Sutherland)
Although the Ursids typically only produce around 10 meteors per hour, that number can occasionally jump to 25-50 per hour.
The Quadrantids
The best meteor shower of winter, though, and one of the three best of the year, is the Quadrantids, which peak on the night of January 3-4.
The meteor shower ‘radiant’ for the Quadrantids (the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to radiate) is located close to the constellation Boötes, in the northern sky, where there was once a constellation named Quadrans Muralis. Like with the Ursids, since this region of the night sky never sets below the horizon, viewers only need to wait until the sky is dark enough to spot meteors.
The radiant of the Quadrantids, in the NE sky, in the hours after midnight on January 3-4, 2025. (Stellarium/Scott Sutherland)
Occurring on the same night as the last quarter Moon, the timing could be a bit better. Be sure to plan your viewing either for the hours between sunset and midnight, or just keep your eyes to the north so that, after the Moon rises around midnight, it stays out of your direct field of view.
The exact number of meteors from the Quadrantids can vary from year to year. Typically, it produces around 120 per hour, which amounts to about two every minute. However, the Quadrantid peak only lasts about 6 hours, which is quite short compared to other meteor showers. Thus, we need to be able to watch in that narrow range to get the most out of it. This year, the peak appears to be centred in the predawn hours on January 4, which is well timed for those in western Canada.
While most meteor showers are produced by comets, Quadrantid meteors originate from 2003 EH1, an asteroid that could be an ‘extinct comet’ — one that has lost all of its ice after repeated trips around the Sun.
READ MORE: How to get the most out of meteor showers and other night sky events
This event isn’t so much something to see as it is something to experience.
Each year in early January, Earth reaches a point in its elliptical orbit known as perihelion — the planet’s closest distance to the Sun for the entire year.
Earth’s orbit around the Sun, noting the Solstices, Equinoxes and the timing of perihelion and aphelion. The image is not to scale, and the ellipse of Earth’s orbit has been exaggerated. Credit: NASA/Scott Sutherland
If you want to mark the event, even if it’s just to pause for a short break, it occurs at exactly 13:28 GMT on January 4, 2024. For those of us in Canada, that translates to:
9:58 a.m. January 4 NST
9:28 a.m. January 4 AST
8:28 a.m. January 4 EST
7:28 a.m. January 4 CST
6:28 a.m. January 4 MST
5:28 a.m. January 4 PST
According to retired NASA scientist Fred Espenak, at that exact moment, Earth will be roughly 147,103,685 kilometres away from the Sun.
Will you feel anything when this occurs? Well, no. However, it will still be neat to mark the moment when it happens!
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There are three Full Moons for Winter 2024-2025 — January’s Wolf Moon, February’s Snow Moon, and March’s Worm Moon.
The 3 Full Moons of Winter 2025, including their popular names. March’s Worm Moon is not only the first micromoon of the year, it will also pass directly through Earth’s shadow, producing a total lunar eclipse. (Scott Sutherland/NASA GSFC, with data from Fred Espenak)
All three of these Full Moons will undoubtedly be beautiful to behold. However, try catching them just after they rise, to see them in “XL-mode”, due to a phenomenon known as the Moon Illusion.
The Full Worm Moon has an added treat in store for us, as well.
On the night of March 13-14, the Moon will line up in a near-perfect ‘syzygy’ with the Sun and Earth, so that it passes through the centre of Earth’s shadow. This will result in a total lunar eclipse.
This graphic details the path of the Full Moon on March 13-14, as it passes through Earth’s shadow to produce a total lunar eclipse. (Scott Sutherland/NASA GSFC, with data from Fred Espenak)
The eclipse begins just before midnight, Eastern Time. However, it will be difficult to notice until the Moon begins its trek across the dark ‘umbra’ of Earth’s shadow, a little over an hour later.
At roughly 2:25 a.m. ET, the Moon will be fully emersed in the umbra, with ‘totality’ turning its surface a dusky red colour. This will last until just after 3:30 a.m. ET, when the Moon begins to exit the umbra, and the entire eclipse ends at 6 a.m. ET. (As this will happen at the same time for all observers, please adjust these EDT times to your local time zone for the event.)
Some of the brightest planets in the night sky will be visible this winter, specifically Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Saturn. Additionally, in late January, these four will line up with Uranus and Neptune in a new “planet parade” across the sky.
Starting right at the Winter Solstice, on December 21, those four bright planets will be stretched across the early evening sky.
Four bright planets shine in the sky this winter. (Stellarium/Scott Sutherland)
Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter will already be above the horizon when the Sun sets, with Mars rising shortly thereafter. While Venus will set fairly quickly in the early days of winter, each night it will step back a bit towards the east, setting later and later, essentially letting Saturn catch up to it. (This apparent backward motion is due to our perspective on both planets from here on Earth, though.)
Watch for the Moon to join the lineup for the first two weeks of January.
In the meantime, Mars will reach its closest point to Earth for the year very early in the morning on January 12. Then, on January 16, the Red Planet will be in “opposition” — on the exact opposite side of Earth from the Sun — and will be up all night from sunset to sunrise.
Venus and Saturn will continue to draw closer to one another throughout much of January until they reach their closest between the 17th and 20th of the month.
Then, by the night of January 21 we can actually catch an entire “planet parade” arrayed from horizon to horizon (although two require binoculars or a telescope to see them).
Six planets line up on January 21, with Uranus and Neptune visible only with binoculars or a telescope. The small dots for these two planets have been magnified 150x in this night sky simulation. (Stellarium/Scott Sutherland)
This planetary alignment should remain in sight, although its exact configuration will continue to change, through early February.
Although we’ll lose Saturn from the lineup eventually, it will be replaced in late February by Mercury, which will pop up above the western horizon to join Venus, for the hour or so after sunset. The closest planet to the Sun should remain visible there until at least mid-March.
At 5:01 a.m. EDT on March 20, the Sun will be positioned directly above the celestial equator, marking the equinox.
This will be the first day of astronomical spring for the northern hemisphere, and astronomical fall for the southern hemisphere.
Unlike last year, which was the earliest Vernal Equinox in more than a century, this one isn’t quite as special. The equinox will occur on March 20 (its more typical date) for 2025, 2026, and 2027, getting later and later each year, in fact.
We’ll have to wait until the next leap year for there to be an even earlier one. Unless we make some big changes to Daylight Saving Time in the next few years, 2028 will feature the earliest vernal equinox in 232 years!
