By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN

NEW YORK (AP) — The last major meteor shower of the year, known as the Ursids, peaks soon, bringing glowing streaks to nighttime and early morning skies. Compared to other meteor showers, it’s more subdued, but experts say it’s still worth a glimpse.

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How to watch one of the year’s best meteor showers, the Geminids

Meteor showers happen 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 given clear night, but more predictable meteor showers happen yearly when Earth passes through streams of cosmic leftovers from comets or asteroids.

The Ursids peak Sunday night into Monday morning and will be visible until Dec. 26 from the Northern Hemisphere. Skygazers usually see five to 10 meteors per hour during the height and there’s a possibility for outbursts 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 moon’s brightness, which can blot out glowing 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 view a meteor shower. To see the Ursids, which hail from a comet called 8P/Tuttle, bundle up and get away from city lights.

“The darker your sky, the better the shower is going to be,” said astronomer Peter Brown with Western University in Canada.

The meteors can be seen over the whole sky, but all the streaks will seem to come from a central point near a constellation for which the shower is named. In this case, that’s the constellation Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper.

Once it gets dark, avoid bright lights from cellphones, which will make it harder for your eyes to adjust.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Tracing social media accounts and a phone number led police to arrest a 16-year-old in Eagan, who was charged Thursday with four counts of threats of violence with intent to terrorize.

Police and prosecutors say the teen’s social media posts that threatened shootings at high schools in Dakota County led eight high schools to close on Tuesday. They reopened on Wednesday.

Though firearms were seen in videos, Apple Valley Police Chief Nick Francis said they did not find weapons in a search of the teen’s family’s home and added “there is no belief that the suspect had access to weapons.”

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office charged him Thursday with four felonies.

When police took the teen into custody on Tuesday, he “initially stated that he did not make the posts” and eventually “said he made the posts because an unknown person had forced him to do it,” according to the juvenile petition’s probable cause statement.

“When asked to provide further details or an identity of this unknown person, (the teen) did not provide further information on this individual, and the tone and demeanor indicated this allegation was not true,” the probable cause statement continued. “… The allegation that another individual was involved in this incident is unfounded.”

The schools closed in Independent School District 196 Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Tuesday were Eastview, Eagan, Rosemount and Apple Valley high schools, along with the district’s two other high schools, Area Learning Center and School of Environmental Studies.

In neighboring Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191, Burnsville High School and Burnsville Alternative High School were closed Tuesday. The district dismissed all elementary and middle schools early that day.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage edged lower this week, staying relatively close to its low for the year.

The decline brings the average long-term mortgage rate to 6.21% from 6.22% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.72%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell this week. The rate averaged 5.47%, down from 5.54% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.92%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year yield was at 4.12% at midday Thursday, unchanged from a week ago.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has been mostly holding steady in recent weeks since it dropped to 6.17%, its lowest level in more than a year, on Oct. 30.

Mortgage rates began easing in July in anticipation of a series of Fed rate cuts, which began in September and continued this month. An encouraging report on inflation on Thursday could give the central bank cause to keep cutting interest rates next year.

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Yes the darkest day of the year is here, but that means brighter days are ahead.

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Sunday is the shortest day of the year north of the equator, where the solstice marks the start of astronomical winter. It’s the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the longest day of the year and summer will start.

The word “solstice” comes from the Latin words “sol” for sun and “stitium” which can mean “pause” or “stop.” The solstice is an end of the sun’s annual march higher or lower in the sky. The winter solstice is when the sun makes its shortest, lowest arc. The good news for sun lovers: It then starts climbing again and days will get a little longer every day until late June.

People have marked solstices for eons with celebrations and monuments such as Stonehenge, which was designed to align with the sun’s paths at the solstices. But what is happening in the heavens? Here’s what to know about the Earth’s orbit.

What is the solstice?

As the Earth travels around the sun, it does so at an angle, making the sun’s warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet for most of the year.

The solstices mark the times when the Earth’s tilt toward or away from the sun is at its maximum. This means the hemispheres are getting very different amounts of sunlight — and days and nights are at their most unequal.

At the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice the upper half of the Earth is at its furthest lean away from the sun — leading to the shortest day and longest night of the year. The winter solstice falls can fall between Dec. 20 and 23 — this year it’s the 21st.

The opposite happens at a Northern Hemisphere summer solstice: The upper half of the Earth is leaning toward the sun, creating the longest day and shortest night of the year. This solstice falls between June 20 and 22.

What is the equinox?

During the equinox, the Earth’s axis and its orbit align so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight.

Aymara Indigenous people hold up their hands to receive the first rays of sunlight in celebration of the Andean New Year 5533, marking the Southern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, in El Alto, Bolivia, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)

The word equinox comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night. That’s because on the equinox, day and night last almost the same amount of time — though one may get a few extra minutes, depending on where you are on the planet.oo

The Northern Hemisphere’s fall — or autumnal — equinox can land between Sept. 21 and 24, depending on the year. Its spring — or vernal — equinox can land between March 19 and 21.

What’s the difference between meteorological and astronomical seasons?

These are just two different ways to carve up the year.

While astronomical seasons depend on how the Earth moves around the sun, meteorological seasons are defined by the weather. Meteorologists break down the year into three-month seasons based on annual temperature cycles. By that calendar, spring starts on March 1, summer on June 1, fall on Sept. 1 and winter on Dec. 1.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.