Taurids

During the first two weeks of November, the Earth encounters dusty meteor streams left behind by periodic Comet Encke’s passages through the inner solar system. One crosses the Earth’s orbit on or about the 5^th while the second crossing occurs on or about the 12^th. The Taurids, a minor shower, radiate out of the sky in the constellation Taurus the Bull (visible soon after sunset in the eastern sky), not too far from the easily recognizable Pleiades star cluster.

With dark sky conditions one can expect to observe from five to ten slow but bright yellow meteors per hour at peak. These meteors plunge through our atmosphere at around 17 miles per second, sometimes producing brilliant fireballs that frequently fragment into multiple meteors.

Occasionally the Earth may experience enhanced activity around the time of Encke’s return to our local neighborhood in space.