Don’t Miss Your Last Chance To See ‘Shooting Stars’ This Year! Ursid Meteor Shower To Peak For Christmas

Merry Meteors! Don’t Miss 2025’s Final Celestial Show

As holiday lights twinkle across neighborhoods, the night sky is about to serve up its own light show. The Ursid meteor shower — the final meteor event of 2025 — arrives just in time for your holiday celebrations.

While the Ursid showers aren’t as spectacular as say the Geminids were in early December, it’s possible you could see as many as two dozen shooting stars an hour. The average is about five to 10 an hour, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.

(MORE: Our Guide For Shooting The Night Sky On Your Phone)

The Ursids will peak Sunday night, Dec. 21, into early Monday morning, but the celestial display will continue until Dec. 26, giving you the perfect opportunity for a Christmas stargazing adventure.

You’ll have to get away from all the holiday lights, but the slim crescent moon also gives you a better chance to see the meteors in darkened skies.

Will The Weather Cooperate?

Weather.com senior digital meteorologist Jonathan Belles says folks from the Southwest to the Carolinas have the best shot at clear skies for the meteor shower’s peak.

Belles explains, “The main weather feature across the Lower 48 early Monday morning will be an atmospheric river driving moisture and clouds into the West Coast and likely into the Midwest.”

Otherwise, some rain showers are possible from the Texas Gulf Coast to southern Alabama, and lake-enhanced snow showers are possible from Upstate New York into northern New England.”

(MORE: Your Pre-Christmas Travel Forecast)

The Ursids are hurtled from the Comet 8P/Tuttle as it makes its way around the sun every 13 and a half years, according to Space.com.

When our planet passes through that comet’s debris field, the dust and debris burn up in our atmosphere, creating those meteors or “shooting stars.”

So consider adding meteor hunting to your holiday traditions this year, it could be the perfect break from all that holiday shopping.

You won’t need any special equipment to see this event and we have a how-to guide on getting the best photos of the night sky.