Why not organise a ‘star party’ for your friends, school or youth group? A star party gives a chance to everyone (adults included!) to look at the Moon and planets through a telescope. The best nights to hold a star party each month in 2025 are listed in the table at the bottom of this article.
Remember that you don’t actually need to have a telescope to run a star party. Amateur astronomical societies are generally happy to assist schools and community groups by running a star party. This means that they will bring telescopes and volunteers to your location so that your students or group members can look through them at the night sky. Usually they will ask for a donation to cover the cost of their public liability insurance. My local society asks for a gold coin donation per participant but each society will be different.
One of the tricks with running a star party is knowing when to hold it. The best dates vary each month and are determined by the phases of the Moon. Based on my experience, I would avoid the night of First Quarter Moon and the prior day. There are multiple reasons. Firstly, you need to avoid a bright Moon. Its light overpowers the visibility of fainter night sky objects. The Moon is a ‘must see’ celestial object with its amazing craters. Ideally, you also want to be able to show students some of the brighter planets. These are not always visible due to the fact that all planets (including the Earth) are constantly moving in their orbits around the Sun.
The ‘when’ to hold a star party is also determined by when the sky gets dark. For instance, I don’t hold astronomy nights for my primary school students in Summer because the sky doesn’t get dark until after some of their bedtimes. To assist you with choosing the best time for a star party, I have also included twilight times in the table. The twilight times are listed for Sydney, New South Wales. The further South you are located in Australia, the longer the twilight period will be. For instance, Tasmania has dramatically longer twilight periods compared to Sydney. If you are not in Sydney, websites such as HeavenAbove.com and TimeandDate.com can be used to generate customised astronomy information for your locations.
Using this criteria, the best nights therefore for 2025 are:
| Best Dates by Month | Planets visible to unaided eye Visibility information is for the end of Nautical Twilight for Sydney, New South Wales. Information about nautical twilight can be found here: https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/nautical-twilight.html | End of Nautical twilight Sydney, New South Wales | First Quarter Moon |
| 3 – 5 January 2025 | Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are easily visible to the unaided eye. Typical warm Summer atmospheric conditions will drastically impact the fine detail visible on the planets through a telescope. Mars will rise (as seen from Sydney) at 9.25 pm AEDT on 3 January 2025. It appears as a moderately bright pale orange star to the unaided eye. Unfortunately the planet’s small size means it shows little detail through a telescope. | 9.14pm AEDT (3 January 2025) | 7 January 2025 |
| 1 – 3 February 2025 | Venus and Saturn are visible low above the Western horizon. Jupiter and Mars are easily visible as bright stars above the North and North East horizon respectfully. | 8.58pm AEDT (3 February 2025) | 5 February 2025 |
| 3 – 5 March 2025 | Jupiter and Mars are easily visible as bright stars above the Northern horizon. Jupiter’s largest moons are easily visible in large binoculars or a small telescope. | 8.24pm AEDT (3 March 2025) | 7 March 2025 |
| 2 – 3 April 2025 | Jupiter is visible to the unaided eye as a bright star above the North West horizon. Mars is visible as a pale orange star above the Northern horizon. | 7.42pm AEDT (2 April 2025) | 5 April 2025 |
| 1 – 2 May 2025 | Jupiter is visible low on the North West horizon. Mars is located above the Northern horizon. | 6.09pm AEST (1 May 2025) | 4 May 2025 |
| 30 May – 1 June 2025 | Mars is visible to the unaided eye above the Northern Horizon. Its small size and distance from the Earth means that no significant surface detail will be visible through a telescope. Jupiter is visible just above the North Western horizon. It sets soon after nautical twilight ends. | 5.52 pm AEST (30 May 2025) | 3 June 2025 |
| 29 June – 1 July 2025 | Mercury is visible above the North Western horizon. Mars appears as a pale orange star above the North Western horizon. | 5.55 pm AEST (29 June 2025) | 3 July 2025 |
| 28 – 30 July 2025 | Mars is visible as a pale orange star above the North Western horizon. | 6.09 pm AEST (28 July 2025) | 1 August 2025 |
| 27 – 29 August 2025 | Mars is visible as a pale orange star low above the Western horizon. Saturn rises above the Eastern horizon at 7.36 pm AEST (as seen from Sydney). | 6.28 pm AEST (27 August 2025) | 31 August 2025 |
| 26 – 28 September 2025 | Mars is visible as a pale orange star low above the Western horizon. Saturn is visible low above the Eastern horizon. It will move higher in the sky as the evening progresses. | 6.48 pm AEST (26 September 2025) | 30 September 2025 |
| 26 – 28 October 2025 | Mercury and Mars are visible low above the Western horizon. Saturn is located high above the North Eastern horizon. | 8.15 pm AEDT (26 October 2025) | 30 October 2025 |
| 24 – 26 November 2025 | Saturn is visible high above the Northern horizon. | 8.47 pm AEDT (24 November 2025) | 28 November 2025 |
| 24 – 26 December 2025 | Saturn is visible above the North West horizon. Jupiter rises at 9.30 pm AEDT (as seen from Sydney). | 9.11 pm AEDT (24 December 2025) | 28 December 2025 |