Ursid Shooting Star

Just in time for Christmas shooting stars will show up again! In the night from 21 to 22 December the Ursids reach their peak, but also in the surrounding nights the view is worthwhile. Between 10 and 50 shooting stars per hour can be seen annually thanks to the Ursid meteor stream. This year, however, the event coincides with a full moon, which makes it hard to see.

In the period from 17 to 26 December, the Earth crosses the orbit of comet 8P/Tuttle. Its fragments burn in the Earth's atmosphere and cause the rain of shooting stars. The radiant, the apparent starting point of the shooting stars, is located in the constellation of the Ursa Major. That's where the name of the shooting stars comes from.