Meteor Showers: Ursids (URS)

Next Peak night
Dec 21-22, 2024

Ursids (URS)
Active from December 17th to December 26th, 2024

The Ursids are often neglected because they peak just before Christmas, and the rates are much lower than the Geminds, which peak just a week before the Ursids. Observers will normally see 5-10 Ursids per hour during the late morning hours on the date of maximum activity. There have been occasional outbursts when rates have exceeded 25 per hour. These outbursts appear unrelated to the perihelion dates of comet 8P/Tuttle. This shower is strictly a northern hemisphere event as the radiant fails to clear the horizon or does so simultaneously with the start of morning twilight as seen from the southern tropics.

Shower details – Radiant: 14:28 +74.8° – ZHR: 10 – Velocity: 20 miles/sec (medium – 32km/sec) – Parent Object: 8P/Tuttle

Next Peak—The Ursids will peak on December 21-22, 2024, when the moon will be 59% full.

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Data from the International Meteor Organization
https://www.imo.net/resources/calendar/