The Winter Solstice Begins With The Last Meteors Of The Decade

(Dec 21, 2019) … The winter solstice is upon us, Happy First Day of Winter. Also known as hiemal solstice or hibernal solstice, and midwinter. Now why would we be happy about the first day of winter? Because now the days will get longer by almost a minute each day. The earth’s north pole is now on maximum tilt away from the sun, this will be the longest night of the year, and the shortest day. As the earth tilts back towards the sun we get longer days, and it gets warmer. Don’t expect it to get much warmer any time soon. The geminid meteor shower has occurred, the second to last of the decade, now it is time for the last.

The Ursid meteors started December 17th and will last until the 26th, the peak is this weekend. The Ursids are much less of a rate than the Geminids producing 5 to 10 “shooting stars” per hour.  Their parent object is comet 8P/Tuttle.  The fact Christmas happens this time of year people rarely observe these meteors due to the bustle of holiday preparation.   There have been bursts recorded of 100 meteors per hour, but that is random. Some are predicting we will see more this year others say not. Once Ursa minor is visible above the horizon, start looking towards that area.

 The Ursids radiate near the star Kochab located in the bowl of the Little Dipper asterism, which is part of the  constellation Ursa Minor the Lesser Bear.  Hence the name the Ursids.   The greatest number of meteors at the peak of the shower will be between midnight and dawn during either Saturday night or Sunday Morning. The radiant point is always above the horizon, or circumpolar. The shower will be active throughout the night and the best viewing should be about 4 AM, predawn.