Bear witness: Ursid meteor shower peaks on year’s longest night
(KTVI) — The annual Ursid meteor shower is expected to peak the morning of Dec. 22, but you can see a show in the sky all week.
The meteor shower runs Dec. 17-26 every year. It always peaks around the December solstice, which this year falls on Dec. 21.
Earthsky.org reports the Ursid meteor shower usually offers about five to 10 meteors an hour. In rare instances, you can see bursts of more than 100 an hour.
If you are watching in the Northern Hemisphere, look north of the Big Dipper around 1 a.m. to begin viewing.
You can find out how clear it will be at night by checking out the Cloud Coverage forecast.
Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through streams of debris left behind in the wake of comets and asteroids. In-the-sky.org says shooting stars are seen whenever one of these pieces of debris collides with the Earth’s atmosphere.