End-of-year Ursid meteor shower will need a dark sky

Even with crescent moon, lack of fireballs means you will need to get away from bright lights

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      There's one last chance to see some meteors this year, and the peak time is tonight (December 22) and the early morning Saturday (December 23).

      The fact that there will only be a crescent moon in the sky will make it a bit easier to see the annual Ursid meteor shower, according to Space.com, which reports that Jane Houston Jones of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory predicts only about 10 meteors per hour.

      The Ursids, which are produced when the Earth pases through the debris path left by Comet 8P/Tuttle in its 14-year orbit around our sun, are not known for fireballs (although the extra-bright meteors are not unknown for this event), so viewers will want to get to a spot relatively free of bright lights, such as a large park or places outside of built-up areas.

      The "radiant point", or the area in the sky from which the meteors will appear to be originating, is near the bottom of the Little Dipper constellation, or Ursa Minor. 

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