The lights on your Christmas tree won’t be the only things lighting up tonight.
This evening, stargazers will be treated to the very last meteor shower of 2023.
The Ursid Meteor shower appears every year between 17 and 26 December but reaches its spectacular peak tonight and tomorrow.
To make things even easier, this coincides with the Winter Solstice so you will have the longest possible time to catch some shooting stars.
So, if you’re in the mood for some festive sky-watching, read on to find out how you can get the best view of this stunning display.
The Ursid Meteor shower will reach its dazzling peak tonight and tomorrow evening. This will fill the sky with fireballs like this one seen near Colchester on Christmas Day last year
The Ursid shower is named after the region of the sky it appears to emerge from, as shown in this sky map. The meteors in the Ursid shower appear to radiate from the Ursa Minor constellation
Meteor showers are caused by the Earth moving through a cloud of debris in space.
Since these clouds don’t move relative to the Sun, the showers always occur at the same time of year.
In the case of the Ursids, the meteors are caused by the debris from the comet 8P/Tuttle, a 2.8-mile-wide peanut-shaped chunk of ice and rock which orbits the sun every 13.6 years.
Every time the comet gets close to the sun, the intense heat causes it to break up a bit more, adding to the cloud of debris.
As this debris falls into the Earth’s atmosphere at 43 miles per second (70km/s) it burns up and vaporises with a bright flash, which we see as a meteor.
Anna Gammon-Ross, senior planetarium astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told MailOnline that this also causes the meteors to appear in the same place.
At their peak, viewers with good conditions can expect to see as many as 10 shooting stars per hour, which may come in groups as these bright stars did over Essex on Christmas Day
Ms Gammon-Ross said: ‘The Ursids meteor shower is named after the constellation of Ursa Minor, the little bear.
‘This is because, although meteors appear all over the sky, they all appear to emerge or radiate from a single point that lies within this constellation.’
The Ursids are sometimes overlooked by stargazers due to their proximity to the spectacular Geminid shower.
At their peak, the Ursids usually only produce 10 meteors per hour, although they have been known to produce up to 25 in extremely good years.
However, the Ursids are one of the easiest meteor showers to watch.
They coincide with the Winter Solstice, as the Earth’s Northern hemisphere reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun.
This means that their peak will come on the longest night of the year, giving you plenty of time to see some shooting stars.
Ms Gammon-Ross adds: ‘Although this may not be the most impressive shower in terms of numbers of meteors, it is a great one to look for as the radiant point in Ursa Minor is always high in the North of the sky – this constellation never sets.’
This means that there will be even more chances to see some shooting stars this evening.
Unfortunately, the timing of this year’s peak is not quite perfect as the Moon will be bright in the sky.
The Ursids coincide with the Winter Solstice, as the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun, this diagram shows how the Solstice produces the longest night
The weather this evening will remain dry over much of England but an amber weather warning has been issued for parts of Scotland, so be sure to check your local forecast before heading out
At around 80 per cent illumination, the Moon may interfere with some observations and make it harder to see some of the dimmer meteors.
But, due to the long Solstice night, there is a way for any eager stargazers to avoid this issue.
Ms Gammon-Ross said: ‘The best time to view this shower will be between 4.30 and 6 am on the 23rd of December.
‘This is after the bright waning gibbous Moon has set but before the Sun begins to rise.’
However, seeing shooting stars is still a waiting game so be prepared for a while out in the cold.
Be sure to wrap up warm and consider bringing a folding chair and some hot drinks for the wait.
To boost your chances further, get somewhere away from artificial light and give your eyes plenty of time to adjust to the darkness.
This means no looking at your phone and resisting the urge to take any photos, especially with the flash on.
The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for some parts of Northern Scotland so be careful venturing out in these areas.
Most of England and Wales, however, will avoid the worst of the rain this evening.
Conditions are likely to be dry, if a little cold and cloudy.
