Ursid Meteor Shower 2016, Eyes On the Skies
The best time to view the Ursids, radiating from Ursa Minor, or the Little Dipper,will be from midnight on the 21st until about 1 a.m. on the 22nd, before the Moon rises. They may be active on the 23rd and 24th, too.
Meteors will appear to be streaming out from the radiant, but they can show up all across the sky.
The Ursids are associated with Comet 8P/Tuttle, which was discovered in 1790 and then re-discovered by Horace Tuttle in 1858.
The comet has a period of 14 years. The Ursids occur when Earth passes through the trail of dust and debris left along the comet's orbit.
The shower itself was first recorded in England in 1900, and also spotted in Germany in the decades following.
Clips, images credit: ESO, ESA/HUBBLE & NASA/JPL
