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Hobbyist astronomers and sky watchers should keep their eyes on the skies next week, as the Taurid meteor shower could result in some impressive fireballs. Fireballs are a technical term for extremely bright meteorites that pierce through the atmosphere. For those of you unfamiliar, Taurids are divided into Northern Taurids and Southern Taurids.
Both are the result of debris left by a comet named Encke. The debris stream left by the meteor contains larger pieces of debris than other debris trails left by comets. While taurids don’t produce as many meteors as other meteor showers, the size of the debris means that taurids often create larger fireballs.
Taurids first appeared in the night sky in late October and will continue to light up the night sky until November 27. The peak is usually between November 5 and November 12. Sunrise. The ideal time to search for fireballs would be shortly after midnight.
As with any astronomical observation, the best option for ideal views is a location away from bright lights. However, Taurids are known to produce fireballs bright enough to be seen within a city. For those unfamiliar with the comet that created the debris trail that resulted in the Taurids, Encke is a periodic comet. It orbits the Sun every 3.3 years, which is the shortest orbital period for a reasonably bright comet.
The comet does not reflect much of the light that hits it, but it has a large coma and tail that make it more visible during its closest approach to the sun. Encke has a core of about 4.8 kilometers in diameter. It was first discovered in 1786, but astronomers didn’t know it was a periodic comet until 1819.
