Don’t miss the beautiful Taurid meteor shower next week
Keep a close eye on the night sky over the next week for the possibility of seeing an extraordinarily bright meteor, as there’s a chance Earth will encounter a swarm of unusually large particles that create eye-catching really brilliant fireballs, the sort causing the unsuspecting public to call the police.
Every year around this time, the Earth passes through a broad stream of debris left behind by the periodic… comet Encke. The dusty material associated with this comet hits the the earth’s atmosphere at a speed of about 19 miles (30 km) per second and burn up, creating the Taurian meteor shower.
The 2022 version of the Taurids could potentially be particularly bright and put on a standout show. But also this year unfortunately this one meteors will face significant competition in the form of a full or nearly full moon, which will illuminate the sky most nights and likely suppress most fainter streaks.
Related: Taurian Meteor Shower 2022: When, Where and How to See
The Taurids are actually one of the longest of the year with recognizable activity (at least a few showers per hour) with their first precursors appearing around October 20 and their last stragglers disappearing around November 30. But it is during a week-long period extending from November 5 to November 12 when the Taurids are most active.
During this time frame, about five to fifteen meteors per hour can be seen by a single observer with a clear, dark sky (city lights or even a slight haze will significantly reduce the number of faint meteors observed). These meteors are often yellowish-orange and, as meteors go, seem to move rather slowly.
We’ll come back later to discuss this handicap. But first, let’s talk about the characteristics of the Taurid meteors.
Larger meteoroids expected this year
Meteors — popularly known as “shooting stars” — are produced when debris the size of pin knots and grains of sand enters Earth’s atmosphere and burns up. In the case of the Taurides, they are attributed to debris left behind by Comet Encke or perhaps by a much larger comet that broke up Encke and left a lot of other debris in its wake.
According to some astronomers, Comet Encke is indeed part of a huge comet that disintegrated 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. The breakup of these comets is often caused by gravitational encounters with Earth or other planets. This supposed break could explain why there are so many Encke-like pieces moving around the inside solar system. In 1982, two British astronomers, SV M (Victor) Clube and William Napier even stated that it was a huge fragment of comet Encke’s parent which caused a 5 megaton explosion over Tunguska, Siberia in June 1908.
Known as the Tauride Swarm, these bright meteors form when the Soil encounters a group of pea-sized fragments and pebbles from the comet that then burn up in the atmosphere
Encke has the shortest known orbital period of a comet, taking just 3.3 years to complete a full trip around the sun. Meteor expert David Asher discovered that Earth can meet periodically swarms of larger particles ejected by this comet (opens in new tab) in certain years and 2022 is expected to be one of those years.
Two streams for the price of one
The Taurides are actually divided into two different showers: the Northern Taurians and the southern Taurides. This is an example of what happens to an older meteor stream. Even in the beginning, the particles couldn’t have moved in exactly the same orbit as their parent comet; their slight divergence accumulates with time. The sun is not the only body that controls the trajectories of particles by gravity; the planets also have subtle effects on the flow. Because the positions of the planets are constantly changing, the particles come closer at some revolutions than at others – diverting, fanning out and splitting parts of the flow.
So what was originally one stream diffuses into a cloud of tiny streams and isolated particles in individual orbits, crosses Earth’s orbit at even more dispersed times of the year, and comes out from more dispersed directions until they are completely in the general haze of dust. are mixed in the solar system. Because this has been going on for tens of thousands of years, visible meteors from these streams are active not for a few days or even a week or two, but for up to six weeks or more.
The radiant of a meteor shower is the point in the sky from which meteors appear to originate. But as we’ve already noted, the Taurid radiant is double, with the southern radiant being most active on November 5 and the northern radiant being most active on November 12. Both cross the southern meridian and are highest in the sky around 12:30 PM. These two radiants are just south of the famous Pleiades star cluster. After 12:30 p.m., they will descend into the western sky.
So if in the next week or so you see a bright, slightly hued orange meteor gliding rather lazily away from that famous little fleck of stars, chances are you’ve spotted a Taurid.
Moon muscles in…
Now for the bad news. As we mentioned earlier, the timing is bad regarding the moon phase. This year’s Taurides are expected to be most productive between November 5 and 12.
And right in the middle of this time frame, on the night of November 7 in the early hours of November 8, the moon will fill up and illuminate the sky like a giant spotlight. The best way to combat the bright moonlight is to try and observe your meteor this coming weekend, when the moon is below the horizon. The moonset on Saturday morning, November 5, comes around 4:15 a.m. local daylight time. The dawn breaks around 6 am. So the sky will be dark and moon-free for about 105 minutes.
Don’t forget to turn your clocks back at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, November 6, when we return to standard time; moonset that morning will come at about 4:25 a.m. local standard time. Dawn breaks about 35 minutes later, so your dark sky time will be much shorter.
However, the lunar eclipse will help
But wait! Over there shall on the night of the full moon, which are dark celestial time due to a very special circumstance: because during the morning hours of Tuesday, November 8, the full moon will total lunar eclipse when it passes completely into the shadow of the earth. Totality lasts 85 minutes, during which time the moon will be reduced to at least 1/10,000 of its normal brightness compared to just before the start of the eclipse. So take advantage of the total phase and scan the sky carefully for possible bright Taurid meteors.
Read more: Beaver Blood Moon lunar eclipse 2022: everything you need to know
2005 redux?
The year 2005 was an exceptional year for the Taurid Swarm (opens in new tab) just as many stunningly bright meteors were seen when fireballs as bright as the full moon were seen. The branding of “the Halloween fireballs” for Encke’s spawn seems to date back to that return.
Does 2022 offer a rerun? All expectations stem from the usual caveat: Meteor showers have a way of fooling everyone. Only by going out and looking at these colorful and slow moving meteors will we know for sure!
Good luck and clear skies!
Joe Rao is an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium (opens in new tab). He writes about astronomy: Natural History Magazine (opens in new tab)the peasant almanac (opens in new tab) and other publications. follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and further facebook (opens in new tab).
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