Ursid Meteor Shower Peaking

The Ursid meteor shower is peaking tonight! You won't see as many headlines about this one because it doesn't produce as many meteors, but the Ursid shower is active from December 13 through the 24th. Even at its peak tonight, maximum activity only gives us 5-10 meteors an hour on average.

While this shower won't be that impressive, it's not the only meteor shower active right now. The Geminid shower, which peaked last week, is still active and may add a few extra shooting stars to the show.

The Geminids are active every December, when Earth passes through a massive trail of dusty debris shed by a weird, rocky object named 3200 Phaethon. The dust and grit burn up when they run into Earth's atmosphere in a flurry of "shooting stars." In fact this is one of the best meteor showers of the year because of those bright "shooting stars" that have come to characterize this meteor shower.

Meteor showers are named after the location of the radiant, usually a star or constellation close to where they appear in the night sky. The Geminid radiant is in the constellation Gemini. For the Ursid shower, the radiant point is Ursa Minor - the Little Dipper. For the chance to see a shooting star, you really just need to look up into the dark sky. Get as far away from lights as you can, including lights from your house and from the city. The moon is 74% full for tonight's Ursid peak adding more light to the night sky than is preferable to watch for shooting stars, but give it a try and let us know if you see any! You can find all of our Meteorologists on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Instagram.