Annual Taurid meteor shower to peak November 12, 2007

William Atkins
Saturday, 10 November 2007 20:20

Science - Space

The Taurid meteor shower, which is caused by the Comet Encke is expected to show its best display in the eastern sky just before dawn on Monday, November 12th.            

The night sky display of the meteors on November 12 is expected to be small in numbers, probably only five to eight per hour. However, the meteors should be slow in speed and look like bright “fireballs” very visible in the night.

Comet Encke, officially called 2P/Encke, is a periodic comet that was named after Johann Encke, who studied it at various times in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The Taurids meteor shower contains two sections, the Northern Taurids and the Southern Taurids. Over thousands of years the two portions have separated due to the gravitational attraction to the planets, especially Jupiter, in the solar system. They are named after the constellation Taurus, from which it appears to come out of in the sky.

Some people call the meteors within the Taurids the “Halloween fireballs” because they occur around Halloween.

The meteors travel about 17 miles per second (65,000 miles per hour) in its orbit. The Taurids meteor shower is believed by astronomers to have originated over 25,000 years ago when a larger comet disintegrated while in the solar system.

For more information on when and where in the sky to see the Taurids meteor shower, please go to: http://www.nightskyinfo.com/maps_images/html/shower1_map.htm.

A history of the Taurids is found at: http://meteorshowersonline.com/showers/taurids.html.