The Ursid meteor shower will peak on the night of the winter solstice.
The closest meteor shower to the winter holiday season, the Ursids, directly follows the Geminid meteor shower in late December each year. It is not the strongest shower of the year, producing only about 10 shooting stars per hour, but in 2024 it will peak just hours after the Northern Hemisphere winter solstice on Saturday, December 21st.
Ursids are also known to be brighter than most shooting stars. So if you're outside this time of year and see a shooting star, it's probably an ursid.
Here's everything you need to know about the Ursids meteor shower in 2024.
What is the Ursid meteor shower?
When you see a shooting star, what you're actually seeing is a tiny particle colliding with Earth's atmosphere and glowing for a fraction of a second as it heats up. These tiny particles of dust and debris are left behind in the solar system by comets in their own orbit around the sun. The Ursid meteor shower is caused by Earth encountering dust and debris left behind by Comet 8P/Tuttle, discovered in 1790. Comet Tuttle was last seen in the solar system in 2008 and is expected to reappear in 2021.
According to the American Meteor Society, about 5 to 10 ursids per hour can be seen around the peak, with occasional outbursts producing over 25 per hour.
Ursid meteor shower: When to look for 'shooting stars'
Although the Ursid meteor shower officially extends from December 13th to 24th, Comet Tuttle leaves behind a fairly narrow stream of particles. So if you want to see an Ursid meteor, you need to make sure you see it very close to its peak. In 2024, that will be the night of Saturday, December 21st, until the early hours of Sunday, December 22nd. Observing conditions will be reasonably good this year as the waning crescent moon does not rise until midnight.
Ursid Meteor Shower: Where to Look for “Shooting Stars”
This is a meteor shower exclusive to people in the Northern Hemisphere. The “shooting stars” produced by the Ursid meteor shower appear to originate from the constellation Ursa Minor, best known as the Little Bear or Little Dipper. The Ursids appear to come from close, in fact, from the vicinity of the star Kochab. Ursa Minor is a much smaller, darker constellation than the much better known Ursa Major – the Big Dipper, which contains the famous Big Dipper – but there is something special about Ursa Minor.
The star at the end of the story of the little dipper is Polaris, which is not a particularly bright star (in fact, it is only the 48th brightest star in the night sky), but enjoys a special status among stargazers. Because Earth's north axis points toward Polaris, it appears to be directly above the North Pole, known as the North Star.
The Ursids can therefore only be seen in the northern hemisphere, as Polaris is not visible to anyone below the equator.
Shooting stars from the Ursa Major shower can appear anywhere in the sky, so you don't have to do anything particularly complicated to see one other than tracking down a dark land sky with no light pollution.
I wish you clear skies and big eyes.
