If you are outside in the night hours and see a bright star with a yellow-orange, or ruddy hue, you may have just seen a Taurid meteor.
The Taurid meteor shower appears like clockwork every year in mid-October through mid-November. However, Nov. 5-12 is the best time to search for them once they reach a wide maximum.
Hunting for these meteors will be easy because the moon won't be an issue. It will set at 6:30 p.m. local on Nov. 5. Every night the moon gets wider and brighter, setting an hour later. Even though the moon's phase has reached the "half phase" stage, the moon will still set at 12:50 a.m. on the evening of November 12.
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Check out our tips for photographing meteors and meteor showers if you want to capture a Taurid meteor. Our top astrophotography cameras and top lenses offer a guide on what you should consider.
Bright, but sluggish streaks
Are you able to see the Taurid meteor Shower? If you take a photograph of the 2021 Taurid meteor shower, send images and comments in to spacephotos@space.com.
Clear, dark skies may allow for 10 to 15 Taurids per hour. They can be yellowish-orange in color and move very slowly, which is typical for meteors. They get their name from the way they appear to radiate from Taurus, The Bull, a constellation that lies low in the east about an hour after sundown. It is usually almost overhead at 1:30 AM local time. As you can see, the bright moon will leave the scene at the same time Taurus reaches its highest point in sky, Nov. 12.
Meteors, also known as "shooting star" or "shooting stars", are created when debris enters the Earth's atmosphere and burns it up. The Taurids are believed to be caused by debris from periodic Comet Encke. This comet last passed through our solar system in June 2020. It is expected to return in October 2023. Taurid debris streams contain larger fragments than other comets. This is why the meteor stream can occasionally deliver "fireballs", which are unusually bright meteors.
This sky map shows where the Taurus constellation is located. It is the place from which the Taurid meteorshower radiates on Nov. 5, 2021. Starry Night - Image credit
Two meteor streams at the price of one
Actually, the Taurids can be divided into two groups: the Northern Taurids or the Southern Taurids. This is an example showing what happens to a meteorstream when it gets old.
The particles were not moving in the exact same orbit as their parent comet at the beginning. However, their divergence grows over time. The sun isn't the only body that gravitationally controls the particles orbits. Other planets have subtle effects on the stream. The positions of the planets change constantly, so the particles move closer to them on certain revolutions, causing the stream to be diverted. This can fanning and splitting the stream.
This sky map shows where the Taurus constellation is located. It is the place from which the Taurid meteorshower radiates on Nov. 12, 2021. Starry Night - Image credit
What was once one stream becomes a cloud of smaller streams and particles in orbits. They cross Earth's orbit at more scattered times during the year, and then come from scattered directions until they become part of the general dust cloud in the solar system.
Margaret Campbell-Brown, Peter Brown and Peter Brown have stated that the 2021 edition of the Observer’s Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada contains information about the peak of the Southern Taurids on Nov. 5, and the peak of the Northern Taurids on Nov. 12. These radiants are located just south of the Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster.
If you spot a brightly colored orange meteor moving slowly away from the famous smudges of stars over the next week, it could be a Taurid.
