Look Up: Illinois Gets A Month Of Meteor Showers In December

December 2024 in Illinois is shaping up to be a month or so of some potentially spectacular sky shows that will add to the really cool ground-based light shows we get with all the holiday lights and bright, colorful decorations.

Things have already started with the Geminid Meteor Showers, and the Ursid Meteor Shower will close out this month's meteor shower shows.

We'll also get to experience the Winter Solstice (or, the first official day of winter) on Saturday, December 21st, at 3:19am local time.

You're already going to be looking up at the star on your tree and the mistletoe above the doorway, so keep doing what you're doing, just take it outside.

The Geminid Meteor Showers got rolling in our part of the solar system on November 19th, and they'll be all wrapped up by Christmas Eve, but in-between now and December 24th, you should be able to get several viewings of a really cool sky show, especially during the peak period of meteor activity which takes place Friday, December 13th through Saturday, December 14th.

The Geminids are usually one of the best meteor showers of the year, capable of producing 150 or more meteors per hour at a dark site. Another really cool aspect is that the meteors are often bright and colorful. The best time to see the Geminids is after 2am.

NASA:

The Geminids first began appearing in the mid-1800s. However, the first showers were not noteworthy with only 10 to 20 meteors seen per hour. Since that time, the Geminids have grown to become one of the major meteor showers of the year. During its peak, 120 Geminid meteors can be seen per hour under perfect conditions. The Geminids are bright and fast meteors and tend to be yellow in color.

But Wait, There's More! Well, More Chances For You To Get A Look At Another Meteor Shower That Gets Started Just As The Geminids Come To An End

The first day of winter, also known as the Winter Solstice, happens on Saturday, December 21st, at 3:19am local time, and if the conditions are right, it might be worth taking a look towards the heavens for a little pre-Christmas meteor show.

The Ursid Meteor Showers take over for the Geminids for the second half of the month of December, and will be hitting their peak right after the first day of Winter and then dialing back after Christmas Eve.

Look at it this way: it's the longest night of the year, you'll need some entertainment to get you through until morning, and this is the last chance at catching a meteor shower in 2024.

Here's Where To Look To Catch The Ursids In Late December

When you want to know that information, you don't go to Field and Stream, you go to the experts. According to the celestial experts at EarthSky.org, you should start by looking for the Big Dipper:

If you trace the paths of the slow-moving Ursid meteors backward, they appear to come from the section of sky marked by the Little Dipper star Kochab.

If you look from a Northern Hemisphere location around the time of the solstice, you’ll find the Big Dipper and the star Kochab well up in the north-northeast at around 1 a.m. your local time. That’s about the time of night you’ll want to start watching this meteor shower.