How to spot a fireball from the first branch of the Taurid meteor showers

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A meteor shower known for blazing fireballs is set to peak on Monday night into early Tuesday and could present a dazzling display for patient sky-gazers.

The Southern Taurids, the first branch of the Taurid meteors showers, will be optimally visible after midnight early Tuesday. Both showers tend to be about quality over quantity — the Southern and Northern Taurids only produce around five meteors per hour each at their peaks, according to EarthSky.

But the dynamic duo often generates heightened activity of fireballs — meteors brighter than the planet Venus — from September through November, according to the American Meteor Society.

“Patience is very good, especially with these showers. … Try to go outside when it’s clear and get a comfortable chair and something warm, maybe some hot cocoa, and just sort of plop yourself down and watch the sky,” said Dr. Shannon Schmoll, director of Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.

“An advantage with (the Taurids) is that they do tend to produce bigger, brighter (meteors) compared (with) other meteor showers. So if you do see one, it’s probably going to be a much bigger ‘wow’ factor,” she added.

The Southern Taurids have been active in the sky since late September. On the night of the peak, the moon will only be about 11% full, according to the American Meteor Society, making for ideal viewing conditions to spot fainter meteors.

The Southern and Northern Taurid meteor showers will be visible almost everywhere in the world except Antarctica, Schmoll said, as long as the constellation Taurus is visible in the sky. Taurus is the showers’ radiant from which meteors appear to originate.

What is a fireball?

Fireballs are typically caused by meteors more 3 feet (1 meter) long, according to NASA, making them appear brighter as they burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

The Southern Taurids are made up of debris from Comet Encke, which has an orbital period of about 3.3 years around the sun — the shortest orbit of any known comet in the solar system. The celestial body creates a broad stream of debris that Earth encounters every year. When the particles enter Earth’s atmosphere, they create the meteors we see streaking across the sky.

“If you have larger chunks of material, it will take longer to burn up, so it’ll be a brighter, longer streak — a fireball is one of these (relatively) big ones,” Schmoll said. Occasionally, the bigger space rocks fall to the ground, in which case they are known as meteorites, but most of the particles are too small and burn out quickly, she added.

Every few years, the Taurid showers see an increase in the rates of meteors produced, often called the Taurid “swarm,” such as the higher rates created in 2022. This heightened activity is usually seen every three or seven years, according to the American Meteor Society.

Normal rates are expected this year for the Taurid showers — scientists predict the next swarm to occur in 2025 — but the celestial display could still offer a sight to see, Schmoll said.

“I think it’s really good for us to have those moments of focusing on the beauty of the universe … to have that connection to nature and outside and marvel at what’s out there,” Schmoll said. “There’s something so exciting about seeing that streak of light, that interaction of the Earth with the rest of the solar system.”

Meteors from the Southern Taurids are expected to be seen blazing across the sky until their finality on December 8, according to the American Meteor Society.

Upcoming celestial events

The Northern Taurids are set to peak about a week later on November 11 and 12, and sky-gazers could see an increase in meteors blazing across the sky when both showers are active.

Here are the remaining meteor showers of 2024 and their peak dates, according to the American Meteor Society:

Leonids: November 16-17

Geminids: December 12-13

Ursids: December 21-22

And keep an eye out for the two full moons remaining in 2024 — the beaver moon, which is a supermoon, on November 15 and the cold moon on December 15, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.

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