NEW YORK (AP) — The last big meteor shower of the year, known as the Ursids, will peak soon, bringing bright flashes to the night and early morning skies. Compared to other meteor showers, it's more moderate, but experts say it's still worth a look.

Meteor showers occur when space rocks hit Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds and burn up, gaining fiery tails, the end of a "shooting star." Random meteors are visible from Earth on any clear night, but more predictable meteor showers occur annually when Earth passes through streams of cosmic debris from comets or asteroids.

The Ursids peak Sunday night into Monday morning and will be visible through December 26 from the Northern Hemisphere. Skywatchers typically see five to 10 meteors per hour during the peak, and there is a chance of bursts of up to 25 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.

How active a shower will appear from Earth depends on the amount of debris and the brightness of the Moon, which can obscure bright meteors. The Ursids feature less space debris than other showers like the Geminids, but the narrow crescent moon won't be much of an obstacle when they peak.

No special equipment is needed to see a meteor shower. To see the Ursids, which come from a comet called 8P/Tuttle, bundle up and stay away from city lights.

“The darker your sky, the better the shower,” advises astronomer Peter Brown of Western University in Canada.

Meteors can be seen all over the sky, but all the trails will appear to come from a central point near a constellation for which the shower is named. In this case, it is the constellation of the Little Dipper, also known as the Little Dipper.

Once it gets dark, avoid bright lights from cell phones, which will make it difficult for your eyes to adjust.

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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.