A small dipper. A steady guide. December’s quiet Ursids.
- LOOK FOR
- Polaris · Kochab
- A SKY STORY
- Ursa Minor means the little bear.
Polaris lies close to the north celestial pole, making it a useful guide to north. - THE PATTERN
- The Little Dipper
The illustration follows a classical Western sky tradition. Other cultures have different names, figures and stories.
- METEOR SHOWER
- Ursids 015 URS
- ORIGIN
- 8P/Tuttle
- SEASON
- DecemberLate December; check a current calendar for the year.
Comet Tuttle leaves the debris; the radiant lies in the little bear.
The radiant is a perspective direction, not the physical source of the meteors. Animation densities are illustrative, not predicted local counts.
The four animation stages compare illustrative activity. They are not measured rates or this year’s forecast.
- REFERENCE SKY
- Hong Kong23 December 2026 · 05:00 HKT
- Ursids radiant · J2000
- RA 222° · Dec +74.6°
- Polaris · J2000
- RA 02h 31m 49sDec +89° 15′ 51″
One J2000 catalogue solution. The radiant drifts during the season; this illustration does not model that drift.
Choose Horizon for a level view with true directions and an adjustable reference time. Art keeps the composed view. The scenery is imagined; neither mode is a live local sky.
A constellation is an area of sky, not one coordinate.
About this sky & sources +
Catalogue stars and traditional line patterns share one celestial projection. Terrain and mythological figures are original artistic interpretations.
Art preserves the composed scene. Horizon uses the selected Hong Kong time and true cardinal directions, with a level mathematical horizon. Its continuous illustrated panorama is an imagined setting, not surveyed Hong Kong terrain.
Catalogue coordinates use J2000 and are precessed to the scene date. Weather, moonlight, terrain obstruction and atmospheric refraction are not modelled. This is a learning view, not an observing forecast.
Artwork: generated with imagegen for KamCosmos. Star catalogue and linework: d3-celestial; BSD notice retained in this page.
