Tonight offers the final opportunity of 2025 to witness shooting stars streak across the night sky, as the annual Ursid meteor shower reaches its dazzling peak. Stargazers across the United Kingdom are being urged to look up this evening for a celestial display of bright fireballs.
What Makes Tonight's Ursid Peak Special
The shower arrives just after the Winter Solstice, providing long, dark nights perfect for observation. The waxing crescent moon will be only at five per cent illumination, creating near-ideal dark sky conditions. While the Ursid shower continues until December 26, astronomers confirm that tonight, December 22, will be its most active period.
Typically, the Ursids are not the year's most prolific shower, producing around 10 meteors per hour under good conditions. However, they have been known to surprise observers. "The Ursids can still offer patient sky-gazers a few surprises, with rates of 25 or more meteors in good years," the original report noted. In exceptional outbursts, such as those recorded in 1945 and 1986, rates have soared to an astonishing 100 per hour.
The Science Behind the Shooting Stars
Contrary to popular belief, the streaks of light are not stars falling to Earth. They are caused by debris from comet 8P/Tuttle, a 2.8-mile-wide, peanut-shaped body of ice and rock that orbits the sun every 13.6 years.
Jessica Lee, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, explained the process: "The Earth travels around the Sun in a fixed path each year. The comet 8P/Tuttle also travels around the Sun in a fixed path, and as it comes in close to the Sun, it heats up, shedding more material and leaving a trail of debris in its wake." When Earth passes through this cloud of dust and rock particles, they burn up in our atmosphere at speeds up to 43 miles per second (70 km/s), creating the flashes of light we see as meteors.
How to Watch the Celestial Show
For the best chance of seeing the Ursids, find a location with a wide, unobstructed view of the sky, away from city lights. The meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation Ursa Minor (which contains the North Star, Polaris) in the northern sky, but they can streak anywhere overhead.
Dr Shyam Balaji, an astrophysics expert at King’s College London, advises: "The best time to view the Ursids is during the predawn hours. Since the shower occurs around the winter solstice, you'll have long nights and plenty of dark skies to enhance visibility." Allow your eyes at least 20 minutes to adjust to the darkness, and avoid looking at phone screens or other bright lights. No special equipment is needed; in fact, binoculars or a telescope will restrict your field of view.
Unfortunately, the UK weather forecast may pose a challenge. The Met Office predicts fairly heavy cloud cover over much of the country tonight, though conditions should remain dry. Patient observers might still catch breaks in the clouds.
What Comes Next for Stargazers
If you miss tonight's display, the next major meteor shower will be the Quadrantids, which peak on the night of January 4, 2026. Known for their bright fireballs, the Quadrantids offer an intense but brief peak lasting only a few hours. Following that, the next significant showers are the Lyrids in April and the Eta Aquariids in May.
So wrap up warm, find a dark spot, and look northwards tonight for your last chance to make a wish on a 2025 shooting star.
