In the upcoming days, two related meteor showers will peak at the same time, lighting up our skies. These are Northern and Southern Taurids. One thing we should get out of the way first, is that you definitely shouldn’t expect a particularly spectacular sky show out of this shower. Both streams are rather weak, producing relatively low quantities of falling stars. That said, the showers come with a rather compelling history which is worth exploring on its own merit.
How The Taurids Formed
Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through a trail of dust left by a celestial object, typically a comet. Because the leftover dust particles move on the same trajectory as their source, we observe the resulting meteors originating from the same spot in the sky, called a radiant. In case of the Taurids, their radiants are located in the Taurus constellation, hence their name.
What makes the Taurids fascinating is the fact that they consist of two separate showers and, consequently, have two separate radiants. The forefather of the Southern Taurids was the comet Encke, while the Northern stream formed from the 2004 TG10 asteroid, believed to be a fragment of the comet. Encke itself was a part of a much larger comet that likely disintegrated around 10,000 years ago. Eventually, the gravity of surrounding planets, namely Jupiter, fragmented Encke and 2004 TG10. After they parted ways, the two objects formed separate meteor streams, creating two distinct radiants.
Moreover, the Taurids have other relatives formed from the same stream in a more distant past. These are the Beta Taurids and Zeta Perseids that pass the Earth around June and July. But given that they approach the planet from the daylit side, we can’t see them in our sky. Some researchers even speculate that the famous Tunguska event was the product of the Beta Taurids.
Curiously, the Soviet spacecraft Mars-1 crossed the Taurids twice. In the densest part of the steam, the craft’s micrometeorite sensor registered the impact speed of one dust particle every two minutes.
It’s also important to note that on November 7, 2005, NASA scientist Rob Suggs and astronomer Bill Cooke managed to record a bright flash on the Moon caused by a meteorite impact. After studying celestial maps, the two scientists concluded that the fallen object most likely originated in the Taurids.
When to Watch The Taurids
Unfortunately, despite their compelling history, the Taurids can’t boast the same power as the Geminids or Perseids. This relative weakness is attributed to a very high rate of particle dispersion in the stream. So on the one hand, the Earth takes longer to cross the stream, prolonging the fireball show. But on the other hand, the Taurids are not the most remarkable of celestial events.
According to the American Meteor Society, the Southern Taurids are active between September 23 and November 8, peaking on November 4 and 5, with its Zenithal Hourly Rate, or ZHR, ranging from 5 to 10. ZHR measures the hypothetical number of meteors that an observer could see in ideal atmospheric conditions if the radiant is at its zenith. Of course, the actual number of visible meteors would be lower.
The Northern Taurids are active between October 13 and December 2, peaking on November 11 and 12, with its ZHR measuring 5. An important caveat here is that this year’s peak of the Northern Taurids occurs when the Moon is 79% illuminated, making the observation much more challenging.
It’s very clear that even when the Taurids are at their peak, it’s very unlikely that we will observe anything more than a handful of falling stars per hour. And if you consider the much colder and deteriorating November weather, it becomes all the more apparent why the Taurids are not widely known beyond astronomical circles.
But the Taurids are interesting for another reason. Their meteoroids are larger than those in other streams, meaning that the Taurids form the brightest fireballs. And considering that Encke is a short period comet, the meteoroid speed is much slower than other streams. So even though the Taurids pale in comparison to their more famous relatives, they can still pleasantly surprise us.
You might also like our article on other notable events in November.
