What Is the Taurid Meteor Shower and How to See It Peak This Week

The two annual Taurid meteor showers are due to peak within days of each other this week, lighting up the night sky with shooting stars.
Due to their appearance around the spookiest holiday of the year, and their tendency to produce bright streaks of light, these showers are often called the “Halloween fireballs.”
The Taurids are actually made up of two separate showers—the Northern and Southern Taurids—with the Southern Taurids peaking late on November 4 and early in the morning of November 5 this year, and being somewhat visible between September 23 and December 8.
The Northern Taurids, on the other hand, will run between October 13 to December 2, and the peak in activity will be on November 11. Therefore, this week will be the best opportunity to catch a glimpse of both showers in their full glory.
Although the Taurids have a relatively low frequency of meteors—usually only about five to 10 meteors every hour at most—they’re known for producing spectacularly bright fireballs, which are large meteors that burn brighter than normal. This phenomenon is due to the larger particles in the Taurid stream than in other meteor showers, which produce more dramatic displays as they enter Earth’s atmosphere.
“Taurid meteors tend to be larger than the norm, which means they are bright, many being fireballs. They also penetrate deeper into Earth’s atmosphere than many other shower meteors,” according to NASA.
The Taurids are split into different showers as they result from two separate streams of debris in space. The Southern Taurids are a result of a trail left by the comet 2P/Encke, and while the Northern Taurids may also be caused by a separate trail from Encke, some suggest that they may result from a trail left by an asteroid named asteroid 2004 TG10. This is thought to be a large fragment of Encke, due to the similar orbits of the two.
As the comet and asteroid approach the sun, they heat up and leave a path of dust and rock in their wake. As the particles left behind enter our atmosphere when the Earth passes through them, they heat up and vaporize, creating the bright flashes of light we know as meteors.
Because the two debris streams have slightly different orbits, Earth crosses through them at different times, which is why we observe two separate, but overlapping, meteor showers.
The Taurid meteors will appear to originate from the constellation of Taurus, hence their name, but they will be visible from anywhere in the night sky. Taurus will rise in the eastern sky around sunset, and will be overhead from about midnight onwards, which is when viewing will be most ideal.
“To observe any meteor shower you need to be somewhere dark looking towards the radiant. Avoid any bright light as this will affect your night vision. No telescope needed!” Mark Gallaway, an astronomer and science educator at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, told Newsweek.
Light pollution from cities may drown out the sight of meteors, as can light from the moon, depending on its phase. Thankfully, the moon was only about 11 percent full as of November 4, but it will be increasingly bright throughout the week, hitting about 80 percent full on November 11, the night of the peak of the Northern Taurids. The moon will set around 2 a.m. on this night, meaning that the sky will be darkest after that.
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