The skies of the Arab world are awaiting the peak of the Ursid meteor shower at dawn on Tuesday.

The skies of the Arab world will witness the peak of the Ursid meteor shower from midnight tomorrow until the early hours of Tuesday, December 23, 2025, coinciding with the beginning of winter astronomically, and it is the last major meteor shower of this year.

The Ursid meteor shower and its cause

The head of the Jeddah Astronomical Society, Engineer Majid Abu Zahra, explained that the Ursid meteor shower is active annually between December 17 and 25, when the Earth passes through a cloud of dusty debris scattered along the orbit of the periodic comet Tuttle (8P/Tuttle).
He pointed out that these particles burn up when they enter the atmosphere at high speeds at an altitude of between 80 and 120 kilometers, appearing as flashes and fast lines of light in the sky.

Best times for observation

Abu Zahra added that the chances of seeing meteors increase when their radiant point is in the constellation Ursa Minor above the northern horizon, as the number of visible meteors increases as this point rises in the sky.
The shower is expected to peak during the early morning hours, typically at a rate of 5 to 10 meteors per hour under ideal observing conditions.

Observation conditions are ideal this year

Abu Zahra explained that this year the moon will be in the crescent phase at the beginning of the month, and will not be present in the sky during the peak hours of the night, which provides a dark sky suitable for observing meteors without the effect of moonlight.

A brief history of the Ursid meteor shower

The president of the Astronomical Society stated that the Ursid meteor shower was discovered relatively only about a century ago, after noticing that some of the meteors seen in late December originate from the same celestial region, confirming that it is a periodic shower and not random.