Peak Night for Ursid Meteor Shower
If you can see the night sky, the Ursid meteor shower peaks tonight. Weather will be a big problem in North America. But, we will take a look at weather across the rest of the northern hemisphere. The southern hemisphere misses out on this show.
The International Meteor Organization is basically the number one voice in the prediction of meteor showers. They have the absolute peak occurring at 2:30AM UTC on December 23rd. This would be 9:30PM EST or 6:30PM PST. 2015 meteor shower calendar here. View will be good from Europe to North America.
Latest U.S. Satellite Imagery
Unfortunately for the U.S., the weather pattern is very active. Clouds are widespread across the country. But, one storm is moving offshore and and away from the Northeast tonight. So, we will see some clear patches form the Northeast and Mid Atlantic into the Great Lakes. Parts of the southern Plains and southwest U.S. will also have clear skies. at times.
Europe Sky Cover for the Peak
Even where skies are clear, the moon is a problem. It will be in the sky most of the night, setting after 5AM at any given location. However, sunrise is so late in most places, especially northern latitudes. That you will still have a few hours of darkness after the moon sets. Simply look at a part of the sky away from the moon and your eyes will adjust better to darkness, and you can still see plenty of meteors.
Background on the Ursids
The Ursids meteor shower is triggered by debris from Comet 8P/Tuttle. It orbits the sun once every 13 years or so. The Ursids are larger than typical cometary particles. They are the size of pebbles and coarse sand.
The meteor shower is almost exclusively a northern hemisphere show. The shower radiates from Ursa Minor (the little dipper), very close to Polaris, the north star.
The shower produces on average 5-10 meteors per hour. But, on the peak night brief bursts of up to 100 per hour are possible.
I want to give a shout out to AccuWeather.com's Al Blasko for all of his help with the content of not just this blog, but many of my posts since taking over as the Accuweather.com Astronomy blogger.
Between the clouds and the bright moon, this shower does not have a lot going for it. But, keep an eye out for any clear patch you can find. Thanks for reading and just look up!
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