Possible Ursid meteor shower streaks through NJ

If you saw some flashes of light streaking across the NJ skies this morning, you likely saw a meteor!

Here's  a blurb from SpaceWeather.com about the possible meteor shower:

Today, Dec. 22nd, Earth is passing through a diffuse stream of debris from Comet 8P/Tuttle, source of the annual Ursid meteor shower. Because of winter weather, this northern shower is seldom observed, but it has produced at least two major outbursts in the past 70 years, in 1945 and 1986. Modelling by forecaster Jérémie Vaubaillon suggests a possible encounter in 2014 with a filament of comet dust, which could produce extra activity around 00h40m UT on Dec. 23rd. The nearly-new Moon on Dec. 22-23 creates perfect viewing conditions. Northern observers can expect to see 10+ meteors per hour streaming from a point not far from Polaris, the North Star.

 

The possible meteor shower is ongoing for the start of the winter solstice, and could be seen through tomorrow December 23.

Did you the Ursid meteor shower? Let us hear where you saw it in New Jersey by commenting below.