December's overlooked meteor shower peaks next week — will the Ursids surprise us?

A series of white streaks of meteor showers are seen in a pale blue night sky over some mountain peaks at the bottom of the image.

When skywatchers think of meteor showers in December, they immediately think of the Geminids, which over the years have evolved into the most prolific and reliable of the dozen or so annual meteor displays that occur. And yet, there is also another notable meteor shower that occurs during December that, in contrast, hardly gets much notice at all: The December Ursids. The peak of this meteor display usually occurs during the overnight hours of Dec. 21-22.

The Ursids are so named because they appear to fan out from the vicinity of the bright orange star Kochab, in the constellation of Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. Kochab is the brighter of the two outer stars in the bowl of the Little Dipper (the other being Pherkad), which seem to march in a circle like sentries around Polaris, the North Star.