When, where to see it
The Taurids may not have received the hype and name recognition that accompany other meteor showers like the Orionids, but skygazers may still find it worth looking up to catch a shooting star or two. when they rise.
Famously slow and long-lasting, the Taurid meteor travels across the sky at about 65,000 miles per hour — a fraction of the 148,000 mph Orionid shower. But while the Orionids are considered the best and the Perseids are hailed as the best meteor showers, the Taurids have one thing going for them: They -fireballs.
Every year, the two branches of the North and the South of the Taurids are responsible for more reports of fireballs, great explosions of light and colors, when they are visible for several weeks towards the end of year. November is when the meteors produced by the two branches of the Taurid meteor stream will be very active, starting this week with the Southern Taurids.
Here’s when and how viewers can give themselves the best chance to witness the peak of the Taurids’ career this year.
How to see the auroras:During most of the day, the northern lights should be successful
When can you see the Southern Taurid meteor shower?
Southern Taurid meteors can be seen when the constellation Taurus is above the sky between September and November, according to NASA.
Although the Southern Taurids are active every year between Sept. 23 and Dec. 8, astronomers expect the light show to be most visible on Monday and Tuesday, according to the American Meteorological Society.
The Northern Taurids, which are active between Oct. 13 and Dec. 2, will peak around Nov. 11. and Nov. 12
Lasting for weeks, Taurid meteor streams are slow moving with high visibility compared to other meteor showers such as the Orionids and Perseids.
Even at their peak, neither the Southern nor the Northern branches of the Taurid meteor stream are frequent, producing only about five meteors per hour.
But the meteors they produce are larger and brighter, leading to an increase in fireball activity when they are active at the same time, the American Meteorological Society says.
How to observe the Taurids
The Taurids, which come from almost the direction of the Taurus constellation, are visible everywhere on Earth except the South Pole.
The best time of day to see the event is usually after midnight and before dawn. It is during this time that the moon will not interfere with the sign and constellation of Taurus, which is where the stars seem to appear – or shine, according to Earth Sky, a website that deals with astronomy and Earth science.
Located in the northeast of the Orion constellation, Taurus can be identified by the bright red star known as Aldebaran and the dipper-shaped constellation Pleiades. And as long as the stargazers are in a dark place, equipment such as telescopes and telescopes should not be needed to see a shooting star.
According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, “Meteor hunting, like other astronomy, is a waiting game, so it’s best to bring a comfortable chair to sit on and cover up warm as you might be outside for a while,” according to the Royal Museums Greenwich.
What causes the Taurid meteor shower?
Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through dusty debris trails left by comets and other space objects as they orbit the sun. Debris – space rocks known as meteoroids – collide with Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds and disintegrate, creating fiery and colorful streaks of charge in the atmosphere, according to NASA.
The resulting fireballs, better known as “shooting stars,” are meteors. NASA says that if meteoroids survive their journey to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere, they are called meteorites.
Astronomers believe that the meteors produced by the two Taurid streams are debris left behind by the Encke galaxy.
Thought by some astronomers to be a fragment of a larger comet that broke up tens of thousands of years ago, Encke has the shortest orbital period of any known comet in the ‘a planetary cycle, it takes 3.3 years to orbit the sun.
Every time comet Encke returns to the inner solar center, its relatively small nucleus spews ice and rock into the atmosphere to create a mass of debris.
The debris stream is spread across such a large area that it would take Earth a long time to pass through it. That is why we see two parts of the same cloud of debris, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich: Northern Taurids and Southern Taurids.
Eric Lagatta covers USA TODAY’s best and most popular news. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com