According to the Observers Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, there are 11 meteor showers that are thought about to be the “principal” displays of the year. In order to make the list, a specific meteor shower should produce at least 10 meteors per hour at maximum. As it turns out, within a period of just 8 days throughout mid to late December, the meteor shower at the top of that list and the shower at the bottom of the list reach their peak.Of course, there are the Geminids which is now thought about the most dependable and prolific of all the yearly meteor display screens. And after that, there is the “other” December shower that in plain contrast, barely gets much notice at all: The Ursid meteor shower. This year, the peak of this meteor display is due throughout the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, Dec. 22. Related: See stunning photos of the Geminid meteor shower of 2021The Ursids are so named due to the fact that they appear to fan out from the area of the intense orange star Kochab, in the constellation of Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. Kochab is the brighter of the two external stars in the bowl of the Little Dipper (the other being Pherkad), which seem to march in a circle like sentries around Polaris, the North Star. A poor Ursid yearThe fact that Kochab is placed so near to the north pole of the sky means that it near never sets for the majority of audiences in the Northern Hemisphere. And because the Ursids appear to fan out from this specific area of the sky, implies that you can search for these faint, medium-speed meteors all through the night if you care to. But this year the Ursids will be almost totally squelched under the light of the brilliant waning gibbous moon. With the peak of the Ursids coming simply a few nights after the moon, implies that these meteors will be in direct competition with what will be in essence a huge celestial floodlight illuminating the sky on the very first full night of winter.This is indeed a very regrettable circumstance, considering that even when viewing conditions are far more favorable barely anyone ever tries observation of these meteors.The 2017 Ursid meteor shower will peak on Dec. 22. They will appear to radiate from the constellation Ursa Minor, the Little Dipper. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) That observers have ignored the Ursids is not surprising. In contrast to the Geminids, which can produce as much as 120 meteors per hour, the normal Ursid rate is but a fraction of that; generally speaking, they produce about 10 or so per hour at their peak. They are actually the dusty particles shed by the periodic Comet 8P/Tuttle, which circles the sun in a 13.6-year orbit and was last seen in early 2008 and due back in August 2021. On occasion, the earth has engaged with a thick, narrow stream of particles shed by this comet, which has actually triggered quick outbursts of Ursid meteors numbering in the lots per hour, such as in 1945 and 1986; counts reached 30 per hour in 2000 and again during the years 2006 through 2008. Unanticipated outbursts of activity might have occurred in other years, but if they did nobody obviously was around to see them. The most likely factor is their proximity on the calendar to the Christmas holidays, as well as the frigidity of late December nights. So … it appears that viewing conditions for the Ursids in 2021 will be “un-BEARable!” As Dodger fans in Brooklyn used to state: better luck next year!Joe Rao works as an instructor and guest speaker at New Yorks Hayden Planetarium. He blogs about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers Almanac and other publications. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..
According to the Observers Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, there are 11 meteor showers that are considered to be the “principal” screens of the year. This year, the peak of this meteor display screen is due during the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, Dec. 22. With the peak of the Ursids coming just a couple of nights after the full moon, means that these meteors will be in direct competition with what will be in essence a giant celestial floodlight lighting up the sky on the very first complete night of winter.This is undoubtedly a very unfortunate circumstance, given that even when viewing conditions are far more favorable barely anyone ever tries observation of these meteors.The 2017 Ursid meteor shower will peak on Dec. 22. On event, the earth has engaged with a dense, narrow stream of particles shed by this comet, which has triggered short outbursts of Ursid meteors numbering in the lots per hour, such as in 1945 and 1986; counts reached 30 per hour in 2000 and once again throughout the years 2006 through 2008.