If you’re stargazing late overnight on Dec. 21-22, keep an eye out for “shooting stars” as the annual Ursid meteor shower peaks.
Although the Ursids are active from Dec. 13 through Dec. 26, the peak night coincides with the winter solstice, which occurs at 10:03 a.m. EST on Dec. 21. Though the two events are totally unrelated, the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere is a great time to look for meteors, and to photograph them if you’re up for the challenge.
The Ursids are not one of the year’s major meteor showers, and they are often overlooked in the run-up to Christmas — but there are good reasons to observe them this year.
This year, the Ursid meteor shower comes very soon after a new moon — when our natural satellite is between Earth and the sun and is absent from the night sky — meaning the shower should benefit from profound darkness. A new moon occurs at 8:43 p.m. EST on Dec. 19, and on Dec. 21, it will be barely visible after sunset as a 2%-illuminated crescent. Because “shooting stars” are fast and often faint, dark skies can boost the chances of seeing these meteors.
The Ursid meteor shower normally produces about five to 10 shooting stars per hour, according to the American Meteor Society. However, outbursts — when rates have exceeded 25 meteors per hour — have been recorded in the past. Bursts of about 100 meteors per hour happened in 1945 and 1986, according to EarthSky.
Although you can look for Ursids all night, the hours before dawn on Monday, Dec. 22 are likely the best time. That’s because the shower’s radiant point — from which they appear to originate — is the bright star Kochab in the constellation Ursa Minor, which will be highest in the northern sky around that time. The Ursids are not visible from most of the Southern Hemisphere.
The Ursid meteor shower is caused by dust and debris left in the inner solar system by Comet 8P/Tuttle, which orbits the sun every 13.5 years.
The next meteor shower will be the Quadrantids, another often-overlooked shower. It will peak overnight on Jan. 2-3, 2026, when around 120 meteors per hour will clash with the bright light of January’s full “Wolf Moon.”