future dates for real

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Some future events and situations are certain, and datable to a greater or lesser degree of accuracy.
It would be tempting for any author to blend the factual with the fictional, by the inclusion of such a reference in a narrative set in the year concerned...

this one happened 3rd January 1818

2029

Friday 13th April: Asteroid 99942 Apophis will pass as close as 19,600 miles to the Earth's surface.

The New Horizons probe will exit the Kuiper Belt.

2035

Periastron of Alpha Centauri A and B.

2040

8th September: a rare alignment of the 5 naked-eye planets within a ten-degree patch of sky.

2044

May: A message sent by the Yevpatoria radio telescope in the Crimea will arrive at the star 55 Cancri.

September: A message sent by the Yevpatoria telescope (see May) will arrive at the star HD10307.

1st October: Venus will occult Regulus. This last happened on 7 July 1959. [Astronomy Now, November 2018, p104]

2061

Halley's Comet returns.

2065

22nd November: transit of Jupiter by Venus - the first for 247 years.

2076

Dwarf planet Sedna will reach perihelion, at 76 AU. (Then after another 11,400 years or so it will reach aphelion at 937 AU.)

2078

3rd October: Mars will occult Theta Ophiuchi. The previous occasion on which Mars occulted a bright star was 8th April 1976, the star then being Epsilon Geminorum. [Astronomy Now, November 2018, p104.]

2079

11th August: occultation of Mars by Mercury.

2090

The next total solar eclipse visible from England; it will be visible (weather permitting) over the West Country. (See Eighty Not Out by Patrick Moore, page 150.)

2114

February: Pluto will be at aphelion.

2117

December: the next Transit of Venus.

2126

29th July 2126: Mercury will again occult Mars (see 2079).

2186

16th July: total solar eclipse, the longest in a span of 12,000 years; totality will last 7 minutes and 29 seconds at maximum - close to the theoretical maximum of 7 minutes and 31 seconds.

2223

2nd December: Mars will occult Jupiter (for the first time since 9th May 2948 B.C.).

2227

Neptune will again be further from the Sun than Pluto is in September 2227.

2287

On 28th August, Mars will be even closer than at the opposition of 2003 when it approached to within 34,646,418 miles. If there are still amateur telescope-users on Earth in 2287, they should be looking forward to the day...

2439

The autumnal equinox will enter Leo.

2576

August 7, 2576: The final limit of the original Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Modified Julian Date (MJD) system before a system epoch reset.

2597

The vernal equinox leaves Pisces and enters Aquarius.

2600

5th May: a total solar eclipse visible at London.

2656

Triple conjunction of Mars, Jupiter and Mercury.

2678

Venus occults Pluto on 5th July 2678..

2729

The close approach of Mars on 8th September 2729 (to 34.57 million miles) will beat the record of 2003 (34,647,420 miles) and will be the closest approach of the Red Planet to Earth in over 60,000 years.

2880

16th March: A small probability exists that Asteroid 1950DA (about 0.7 miles across) will hit Earth.

3089

On 18th December 3089 will occur a transit of Venus that is not one of a pair; the first such occasion since 23rd November 1396.

3332

The return of Comet Swift-Tuttle.

3886

Alignment of the Sun, Earth, Jupiter and Pluto.

4385

Return of Comet Hale-Bopp (the bright comet of 1997). [Sky at Night Magazine, July 2025, p41]

5366

Venus will occult Aldebaran on 27th August 5366. This will be the first occultation of Aldebaran by a planet since 15th July 18980 B.C.

5800

By this time, Omega Carinae (magnitude 3.29) will have approached closer than 1° to the south celestial pole.

6757

An ultra-rare simultaneous occurrence of a total solar eclipse and a transit of Mercury across the Sun.

7541

16th February: occultation of Saturn by Jupiter, for the first time since prehistoric times.

8569

Voyager 2 will be 4.026 light-years from Barnard's Star. [Astronomy Now, March 1990, p28]
(See 11,800.)

9800

Around this year Deneb will be an approximate Pole Star (about 7° from the north celestial pole).

11,800

The Solar System and Barnard's Star will have approached to about 3.8 light-years from each other (the closest they'll get).

15,232

5th April: A rare combination of events: a Venus transit during a solar eclipse.

from Sky & Telescope August 2004, p138

15,300

Beta Pictoris will be within 6° of the South Celestial Pole. [POTF]

20,279

Voyager 2 will be 3.211 light-years from Proxima Centauri. [Astronomy Now, March 1990, p.28]

20,584

Voyager 2 will be 3.47 light-years from Alpha Centauri. [Astronomy Now, March 1990, p.28]

22,000

Around this time Lalande 21185 will be at its closest to Earth: 4.6 light-years.

22,400

Thuban will have returned to within 2° of the North Celestial Pole, and will therefore be as much of a Pole Star as it was for the ancient Egyptians in 2800 B.C. [POTF]

35,000

By this time Ross 248 has approached to just over 3 light-years' distance, and is the closest star to the Sun, having displaced Alpha Centauri from that role.

40,170

Voyager 2 will be 1.648 light-years from Ross 248.

69,163

26 July: Mercury and Venus will transit the Sun simultaneously for the first time since 22 September 373,173 B.C.

from Sky & Telescope August 2004, p138

70,000

Sirius will be within a few degrees of the South Celestial Pole. [POTF]

224,508

27-8 March: Mercury and Venus will transit the Sun simultaneously for the first time since 69,163.

290,000

For a few millennia either side of this date, Vega will shine at magnitude -0.8, compared with its current 0.03, and will be the brightest star in our night sky. Its distance will have decreased from 25 to 17 light-years.
[Fred Schaaf, "Vega on High", Sky & Telescope, July 2004, p.58]

298,477

Voyager 2 will have approached to 4.295 light-years from Sirius. [Astronomy Now, March 1990, p.28]

14,000,000

The Sun, as it bobs up and down along its orbit of the Galaxy, will be around its maximum height (about 250 light-years) above the galactic plane.

600,000,000

Around this time, total solar eclipses will cease, because the apparent diameter of the receding Moon will have become too small to cover the Sun's disk.

André G Borledeau, "A Journey in a Celestial Time Machine: Polestars of the Future" (Sky & Telescope, March 2008, p66-9) [=POTF]

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