A bright moon will wash out many of the year's final meteors.
The Ursid meteor shower, the last of the year, peaks on the night of December 21-22, coinciding with the winter solstice.
The shower usually produces up to about 10 meteors an hour. A possible burst of activity around 14:00 GMT on December 22 could double that, though it may be missed.
This year, the Moon will be about 95 per cent illuminated, just days before full moon, so its glare will hide many fainter meteors.
The Ursids come from debris left by comet 8P/Tuttle, which returns to the inner Solar System in 2035. The meteors appear to radiate from near the bowl of the Little Dipper, high in the northern sky.
