The Taurids meteor shower sends fireballs streaking across the sky this week. Here's how to spot them.
- The Taurids meteor shower streaks across the sky this week, with fireballs that can look brighter than Venus.
- The Northern and Southern Taurids coincide to produce five to 10 meteors each hour.
- This week is the perfect time to view the shooting stars (before the full Beaver Moon outshines them).
- Steer clear of city lights and look to the Taurus constellation after midnight to get the best views.
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Look for fireballs in the night sky this week - the Taurids meteor shower is making its biggest appearance of the year.
The Taurids aren't the most numerous meteors (stargazers can expect to see five to 10 each hour), but they offer a reward to patient viewers: Many of these shooting stars explode into brilliant bursts, glowing brighter than Venus.
That's because the meteors barrel into Earth's atmosphere at about 65,000 mph. They can leave behind glowing trails of debris that shine in the sky for up to a second, sometimes appearing orange.
The Taurids come in two different streams, which coincide this week. The Southern Taurids are debris from Comet Encke, a ball of ice, rock, and dust that orbits the sun. The origin of the Northern Taurids is still debated. They could be a stream of dust grains left behind by an asteroid, though some scientists think the Northern Taurids also came from Comet Encke, but were separated from the Southern Taurids by the distant gravitational pull of Jupiter. Still others think the whole field of debris came from the same giant comet, which disintegrated over the last 20,000 to 30,000 years.
Either way, Earth passes through the densest part of this debris field in the last week of October and first week of November, according to the American Meteor Society.
How to watch the Taurids
This week is a good time to view the Taurids before the full Beaver Moon outshines them on November 11.
To spot the fireballs, find a dark spot with a clear view of the sky, ideally far from city lights. Once the moon sets, a little after midnight, the show begins. Look to the Taurus constellation - that's the area of sky where the shooting stars appear to originate (hence the meteor shower's name).
The Taurids run on a 10-year cycle, and they made a big appearance in 2015. So this year won't be quite that spectacular, but there's still a good chance of fireballs.
After the Taurids, the next meteor shower to look for will be the Leonids, which peak on the night of November 16.