Dec 17, 2025 7:00 AM

How to Watch the Ursids Meteor Shower—the Last of the Year

Conditions in the US should be perfect for the final meteor shower of 2025, with no moonlight present to interfere with spotting shooting stars.

Photograph: bjdlzx/ Getty Images

If you want to get into stargazing in 2025, you still have the chance: there’s one final meteor shower to catch this year. Also known as shooting stars, meteors happen when Earth’s orbital path crosses a path of debris left by a comet and that material burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Watching a meteor shower is one of the most accessible ways to engage with the night sky.

The next shower are the Ursids, which will be active in the lead-up to Christmas. This is the ninth and final major meteor shower to grace skies in 2025. Details of when these showers will appear again next year in the northern hemisphere are listed below—so mark your 2026 calendar for these.

The Ursids are active around December 17 to December 26, peaking in the early morning hours of December 22. This meteor shower is less active than others, typically yielding about 10 meteors per hour; however, viewing conditions will be perfect for sky watching. The moon will set at approximately 6 pm in the eastern US on the 21st, so no moonlight will interfere with this meteor shower.

Even though the Ursids typically produce the most meteors just before dawn, when its radiant, the Little Dipper (or Ursa Minor), is highest in the sky, you will be able to see meteors throughout the entire night during this shower’s peak. In northern latitudes the Ursids’ radiant is above the horizon all night.

How to Watch a Meteor Shower

You don’t need any special equipment to see a meteor shower—in fact, using devices like binoculars or telescopes actually prevents you from seeing meteors, because they travel too fast to be seen through the lenses of such equipment. All you need are your eyes, a dark sky with little to no moonlight, and a location that’s away from excess light, as moonlight and light pollution can wash out shooting stars.

Note that the moon appears (rises) and disappears (sets) in the night sky at different times depending on what time zone you are in. All moonrise/moonset times in this piece are for the eastern US. You can use tools like Time and Date’s moonrise/moonset calendar or this tool from the US Naval Observatory to check the precise moonrise/moonset times in your exact location.

You should allow your eyes about half an hour to adjust to the darkness. If you need to use a flashlight while outside, use one with red light instead of white to preserve your night vision.

Each meteor shower is named after its radiant, or the constellation that the shower appears to come from. A meteor shower’s radiant usually needs to be above the horizon before you can see the meteors. You don’t need to look directly at the radiant to see meteors; shooting stars will be visible throughout the entire sky once the radiant has risen.

If you need help finding a shower’s radiant, you can use an app like Stellarium, which can also tell you when the radiant will be above the horizon in your exact location. If you really want to maximize the number of meteors you’ll see, you should watch the sky when the shower’s radiant reaches its highest point in the sky. However, you don’t need to wait until the radiant is at its highest to enjoy the show—as long as the radiant is above the horizon, you should be able to see plenty of shooting stars.

Showers to Look Out for Next Year

The Quadrantids (January)

The Quadrantids take place in December and January and peak during the first week of the year. This meteor shower has a sharp peak, meaning that most of its activity occurs in a narrow window of time. The Quadrantids typically produce many fireball meteors—that is, meteors that are very bright—with up to 120 meteors per hour during the shower’s peak.

The Quadrantids’ radiant is the constellation Quadrans Muralis, though the International Astronomical Union no longer recognizes this group of stars as a constellation. In its place is the constellation Boötes, which is next to the Big Dipper.

The Lyrids (April)

The Lyrids are active in the second half of April, with their peak lasting around three nights. You can expect to see about 15 to 20 meteors per hour under ideal viewing conditions during the Lyrids’ peak. Under optimal viewing conditions, the stargazing website Earth Sky notes, about a quarter of Lyrids shooting stars produce persistent trains—lingering streaks of light that are the result of gases being ionized as the meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere.

The Lyrids’ radiant, the constellation Hercules, rises well before midnight, so meteors are visible all night, but are most likely to be seen just before dawn, when the radiant reaches its highest point in the sky.

The Eta Aquariids (May)

The Eta Aquariids are active approximately from mid-April to the end of May. This meteor shower does not have a sharp peak: Elevated activity lasts about a week, with activity peaking for one night in the first week of May.

In the northern hemisphere, the Eta Aquariids are a medium-strength shower that produces about 10 to 30 meteors per hour. According to the American Meteor Society, many of these meteors produce persistent trains. One other thing that makes the Eta Aquariids extra special is that these meteors are actually remnants of the famous Halley’s Comet.

The Eta Aquariids’ radiant, the constellation Aquarius, appears very low in the sky in the northern hemisphere in April and won’t start to peak above the eastern horizon until after 2 am local time. However, meteors from this shower are still visible even when the radiant is just below the horizon.

The Southern Delta Aquariids (July–August)

The Southern Delta Aquariids are active from mid-July to mid- to late August, producing peak activity for about a week at the end of July. Unlike some other meteor showers, the Southern Delta Aquariids don’t have a sharp peak. Instead, the number of meteors per hour gradually increases and then slowly decreases during the period of activity.

The Southern Delta Aquariids’ radiant is the constellation Aquarius.

Although this meteor shower typically yields meteors that are somewhat dimmer and do not have persistent trains, this meteor shower is still worthwhile: You’ll be able to see about 25 shooting stars per hour in ideal viewing conditions.

The Perseids (July–August)

The Perseids are also active from mid-July to mid- to late August but peak roughly two weeks after the Southern Delta Aquariids.

The Perseids are one of the strongest and brightest meteor showers of the year, producing 100 to 150 meteors per hour under dark skies. However, the number of meteors drops off sharply after the peak.

The Perseids often yield bright fireball meteors, and about a third of the Perseids have persistent trains. Shooting stars in this shower are also known for being particularly colorful: Most have a green or bluish color, but these meteors can produce yellow, red, purple, or pink hues as well.

The Perseids appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus.

The Orionids (September–November)

The Orionids are active from late September until late November and have a gradual peak due to the angle at which Earth crosses the path of this trail of comet debris. The Orionids produce peak activity for about a week, in the second half of October.

The Orionids typically yield about 20 to 25 meteors per hour during their peak and are known for being particularly bright—many of the Orionids are fireball meteors. Like the Eta Aquariids, the Orionids are debris left behind by Halley’s Comet.

The Orionids appear to radiate from the constellation Orion.

The Leonids (November–December)

The Leonids are active roughly for the length of November. They have a sharp peak, producing the most meteors overnight around the middle of the month. During the Leonids’ peak, you can expect to see about 15 meteors per hour under dark skies.

Although the Leonids produce fewer meteors than many other of the major meteor showers, they are known for producing fast-moving, bright, fireball meteors.

The Leonids’ radiant is the constellation Leo, which rises around midnight local time and is highest in the sky around dawn.

The Geminids (December)

The Geminids are active from early to mid-December, and have a sharp peak that next year will be around December 14.

The Geminids are the most spectacular meteor shower of the year. In addition to boasting up to 120 or even 150 meteors per hour during its peak, this meteor shower is also the brightest and most colorful of the year.

The Geminids are bright, slow-moving meteors that often have yellow tones, but they can be a range of other colors, including green, blue, white, red, or orange. And unlike most meteors, which are caused by comet debris, the Geminids are the remnants of an asteroid.

Gretchen Rundorff is a writer and editor who is passionate about empowering people to learn about the night sky. Her work has appeared on Live Science and Astronomy. She has seen multiple meteor showers, photographed the 2024 total solar eclipse, and witnessed the 2017 partial solar eclipse. She also uses ... Read More

Read More