Look for 'The Big One' in 2017

The new year will bring a number of stunning events and endeavors that reach all the way to the stars. 

Here's what you can expect to see.

The Quadrantids Meteor Shower

Arriving on Jan. 3, the Quadrantid meteor shower is known for its bright fireball meteors, which explode in light and color and last longer than an average meteor streak.

The best chance of seeing the Quadrantid meteor shower on the night of Jan. 3 will exist in parts of the Plains states, Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and West Coast, said weather.com meteorologist Brian Donegan. On the night of Jan. 4, portions of the mid-Atlantic, Southeast, northern Rockies, intermountain West and West Coast will have the best viewing conditions.”

Though the Quadrantids’ lights last longer than other meteor showers, the phenomenon itself is much shorter, lasting only a few hours compared to other showers which can last up to two days, according to NASA. 

The Quadrantids are believed to be associated with asteroid 2003 EH1, which astronomers believe is an extinct comet, meaning all of its ice and dust have evaporated, according to Space.com.

The shower’s peak is typically only 6 hours long and it’s expected to hit around 9 a.m. Eastern Time, Space.com also reports. This year average rates of 120 meteors per hour are expected.

The Great American Eclipse

On Aug. 21, 2017, the nation will be able to see a total solar eclipse for the first time in more than 30 years.

Dubbed “the Great American Eclipse,” this type of phenomenon has not occurred since Feb. 26, 1979, when an eclipse passed over just five states and was obscured by cloudy weather.

In addition to providing an epic sky show, the upcoming total eclipse will offer scientists a unique opportunity to look into various science and engineering problems, according to NASA.

The dark color of the moon can be used to calibrate imagers attempting to X-ray the moon in order to properly record the "zero signal" state, according the space agency. The eclipse itself blocks the disk of the sun, allowing light from the inner corona layer of the sun to shine into researchers’ experiments for more detailed studying.

The eclipse is projected to pass over a huge swath of the country, stretching from Oregon to South Carolina and will reach its greatest duration and coverage of the moon when it passes over the southeastern corner of Missouri and part of western Kentucky.

Juno Checks Out Jupiter

Launched in 2011, NASA’s Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter in July 2016 and is expected to help researchers improve their understanding of the gas giant’s origin and evolution. 

Shorty after its arrival at Jupiter, the spacecraft sent back its first picture of the planet, which featured three of its four large moons. 

During its journey, the spacecraft is expected to shed light on how much water is in the planet’s atmosphere, measure things such as the atmosphere’s composition and temperature, and map the magnetic and gravity fields in order to reveal the planet’s structure, according to NASA.

Juno will continue to orbit Jupiter through this year and is expected to deorbit in February 2018. 

SpaceX Returns to Space With Reusable Rockets

After a season of trials and errors, SpaceX plans to resume launching its spacecraft in early January.

Their first venture of the new year will be the launch of a satellite for communications company Iridium, according to the company's website. 

After the unexpected explosion of a SpaceX rocket on a launch pad in November, the company is taking extra precautions to ensure things will run properly before they launch again. 

The company also plans to reuse its rockets in an effort to reduce the cost of flying to space.

Typically the rocket stages that house the engines fall off once their fuel has been used up and become lost at sea when they’re pulled back into the Earth’s atmosphere. However, SpaceX’s two-stage rocket allows its stages to make a controlled descent and has four legs to help it stand, according to the company’s site.  

The company’s founder Elon Musk also has visions of colonizing Mars, however, that’s an endeavor that will extend into the next century.

SpaceX’s upcoming flight manifest includes 42 flights, at least seven of which are for Iridium.

TESS Will Hunt for Exoplanets

NASA is planning to launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in December 2017 on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, according to the space agency’s website.

The satellite’s mission is to find exoplanets that periodically block light from their host stars. It will survey 200,000 of the cosmos’ brightest stars near the sun. 

Researchers anticipate that TESS will catalog more than 2,000 planet candidates and increase the current number of known exoplanets, also according to NASA. Out of those planets, about 300 are expected to be Earth-sized or super-Earth-sized, meaning they’re no larger than twice the size of Earth. 

While officials are aiming for a 2017 launch, the mission is scheduled to occur no later than June 2018.

TESS will survey the entire sky over the course of two years. 

Cassini’s Crash Landing

After 20 years, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will come to an end with a violent crash onto Saturn’s surface. 

The mission will come to an end on Sept. 15, 2017, when Cassini plummets into Saturn’s atmosphere where it will break apart and burn up, according to a previous report.

Up until its destruction, it will continue to send last-minute data back to researchers. 

In its final cruise around the sixth planet from the sun, the spacecraft will get a never-before-seen look at Saturn’s rings and will study its moons Enceladus and Titan multiple time.

Cassini will be destroyed because it has run out of gas after two decades of studying space - 16 years longer than it was originally scheduled to run.  

The Geminids Meteor Shower

As holiday decorations light up towns and neighborhoods, this December meteor shower will return to light up the skies.

Nearly 200 years old, the Geminid meteor shower was first recorded in 1822 from a riverboat on the Mississippi River and have been gaining strength ever since, according to a previous report. Typically, it produces around 120 falling stars an hour under dark skies. 

The shower is produced as the Earth passes through particles from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which astronomers believe collided with another object in the distance past to produce the stream of particles that create the falling stars. 

China Shoots for the Moon

In a document released on Dec. 27, China’s Information Office of the State Council revealed that the country plans to complete the soft-landing of a probe on the far side of the moon in 2018.

The Chang’e-4 lunar probe is expected to launch by the end of 2017, according to Space.com

Officials say the probe will make the type of landing that will keep the lander intact upon touching down, reports ScienceAlert.com. 

“The Chang'e-4's lander and rover will make a soft landing on the back side of the Moon, and will carry out in-place and patrolling surveys," said China’s lunar exploration chief Liu Jizhong said in a statement obtained by Science Alert.

Completion of this mission would make China the first country to land a probe on the Moon’s far side. 

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: December 2015 Geminid Meteor Shower