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Look up to see the Ursid meteor shower on Sunday morning, the last sky show of the year.

The tiny meteor shower is often overshadowed by the Geminid meteor shower, which peaks about a week earlier. And the Ursids always occur near the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year, which occurs on Saturday. According to the American Meteor Society, the meteor shower is also the least observed in the Northern Hemisphere due to the busy holiday season and cold, cloudy nights typical of this time of year.

The shower also favors the Northern Hemisphere because the radiant, or point from which the meteors appear to come from in the night sky, never rises high enough in the sky for those in the Southern Hemisphere.

According to NASA, the moon will be 54% full on Sunday, limiting the visibility of faint meteors. However, experts have tips on how to get the most out of observing the ursids.

The meteor shower is expected to peak between 4 and 5 a.m. ET Sunday, said Robert Lunsford, fireball reports coordinator for the American Meteor Society. According to EarthSky, it is also possible to see meteors in the sky shortly after midnight.

The Ursids come from the shell of the Little Dipper, also known as the constellation Ursa Minor, near the bright orange star Kochab, Lunsford said.

While the moon rises around midnight local time in most locations in North America, the evening hours before moonrise may be the worst time to catch a glimpse of the meteors because meteor activity is out of sight and blocked by the horizon.

Instead, Lunsford recommends looking for meteors streaking across the sky in the final hours before sunrise. Up to 10 meteors can be visible per hour. Remember to block out the moon to increase your chances of spotting meteors, he said.

“To best view these meteors, face north with the moon behind you,” Lunsford said via email. “Lie down in a comfortable lounge chair and direct your gaze halfway up the sky so that the horizon is at the bottom of your field of vision. If trees or other obstacles block your view, look a little higher into the sky. The atmosphere is densest in the lower parts of the sky and that is where the greatest activity is observed.”

To help your eyes adjust to the darkness and increase your chances of spotting meteors, the American Meteor Society recommends bundling up against the cold temperatures and staying outside for at least an hour.

The meteor shower occurs when Earth encounters the stream of material left behind by Comet 8P/Tuttle, which sheds material as it orbits the sun, according to EarthSky.
According to EarthSky, the Ursids are also a relatively new meteor shower. While many of the year-round meteor showers observed have occurred annually for centuries, the Ursids were only observed in the 20th century, when observers noticed meteors that appeared to come from the Little Dipper.

The Ursids may be the last meteor shower to peak this year, but the Quadrantids aren’t far behind.

The annual Quadrantid meteor shower will return to the night sky on December 26 and will be most active early in 2025, according to the American Meteor Society.

The Quadrantids will have less competition from the bright moon, which is only 11% full during peak activity.

“If your skies are cloudy on the morning of December 22nd, you will have another opportunity to see a meteor shower in the near future when the Quadrantids peak on the morning of January 3rd,” Lunsford said.