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The Ursids Meteor Shower Peaks Friday Night!
December 23, 2023 at 08:36 AM EST
By WeatherBug Meteorologist John Benedict
The final meteor shower of 2023 is set to peak on the evening of December 22. The Ursid Meteor Shower is one of the lesser-known meteor showers as it tends to only offer five to ten meteors per hour during its peak.
The Ursids are active between December 13 and December 24 and always peak around the Winter Solstice. This shower largely flies under the radar as they are often overshadowed not only by the busy holiday season, but by the more active Geminid Meteor shower which peaks just a week before the Ursids.
The source for the Ursid meteor shower is the comet 8P/Tuttle which orbits between Earth and Saturn and has an orbital period of 13.6 years. Typically, only five to ten meteors occur per hour during the Ursids, but occasional outbursts have happened when nearly 100 meteors per hour occurred in 1945 and 1986.
Like all meteor showers, the Ursids are named for the point where they radiate outward from. The radiant for the Ursids is the star Beta Ursae Minoris, also known as Kochab which is found in the constellation Ursa Minor which contains the Little Dipper. To find the radiant, look for the Polaris or the North Star and Kochab is found at end of the Little Dipper. The Little Dipper is often more difficult to spot, but one can trace an imaginary line from the two outer stars in the more identifiable Big Dipper’s bowl which always points to the North Star.
The best viewing is generally during the middle of the night between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. local time. The moon will be 85% illuminated on December 23, so the bright moon light may dim some of the meteors this year. The best viewing locations across the U.S. this year for the Ursids will be across the high plains, northern Rockies, Texas and northern New England. A pair of storm systems will lead to increased cloud cover across both the Northwest and Southwest, while a weak cold front will spread clouds across parts of the Midwest, Ohio Valley, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
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Image: The Ursid meteor shower peaks on the morning of December 22, 2021, coinciding with the Winter Solstice. (Getty Images)
The Ursids are active between December 13 and December 24 and always peak around the Winter Solstice. This shower largely flies under the radar as they are often overshadowed not only by the busy holiday season, but by the more active Geminid Meteor shower which peaks just a week before the Ursids.
The source for the Ursid meteor shower is the comet 8P/Tuttle which orbits between Earth and Saturn and has an orbital period of 13.6 years. Typically, only five to ten meteors occur per hour during the Ursids, but occasional outbursts have happened when nearly 100 meteors per hour occurred in 1945 and 1986.
Like all meteor showers, the Ursids are named for the point where they radiate outward from. The radiant for the Ursids is the star Beta Ursae Minoris, also known as Kochab which is found in the constellation Ursa Minor which contains the Little Dipper. To find the radiant, look for the Polaris or the North Star and Kochab is found at end of the Little Dipper. The Little Dipper is often more difficult to spot, but one can trace an imaginary line from the two outer stars in the more identifiable Big Dipper’s bowl which always points to the North Star.
The best viewing is generally during the middle of the night between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. local time. The moon will be 85% illuminated on December 23, so the bright moon light may dim some of the meteors this year. The best viewing locations across the U.S. this year for the Ursids will be across the high plains, northern Rockies, Texas and northern New England. A pair of storm systems will lead to increased cloud cover across both the Northwest and Southwest, while a weak cold front will spread clouds across parts of the Midwest, Ohio Valley, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
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Image: The Ursid meteor shower peaks on the morning of December 22, 2021, coinciding with the Winter Solstice. (Getty Images)