Skygazers, get ready for an active night sky this week and next. Following the supermoon last week, we've also got three annual meteor showers happening right now: the Northern Taurids, which peaks Tuesday night; the Southern Taurids, which has already peaked but is ongoing through November; and the Leonids, which peaks early next week.
While these showers aren't as prolific as the biggest ones, including August's Perseids and January's Quadrantids, you can still marvel at meteors with a bit of luck and some tips we'll provide.
Not everyone understands what a meteor shower actually is, but it's fairly simple. Shooting stars are a common occurrence in space around planet Earth. According to NASA, 48.5 tons of meteoritic material hit Earth's atmosphere every year. Sometimes, enough of that material comes from the same spot, and we humans refer to those as meteor showers.
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The Southern Taurids and Northern Taurids originate from the Taurus constellation. Stellarium
Southern Taurids: Ongoing
The Southern Taurids shower, one of the longest meteor showers of the year, lasts for two months.
Southern Taurids peaked on the evening of Nov. 4, spawning upwards of five meteors per hour during that peak, but is expected to hang around through this week and next. Southern Taurids is known for its increased chance of fireballs, which are meteors that are brighter than most. According to some reports, these fireballs can be brighter than the planet Venus when they streak across the night sky.
All meteor showers are named for the constellations where they appear to originate, a spot known as the radiant. For the Southern Taurids, the radiant is in the Taurus constellation near the Pleiades star cluster, so that is where you'll want to look for them. Taurus will be visible in the eastern sky shortly after sunset and end its evening in the western sky as the sun rises.
Northern Taurids: Peaks Nov. 11-12
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