Taurids
The Taurids are long-lasting autumn meteor showers known for slow, bright fireballs, linked to Comet Encke.
The Taurids are two closely related showers, the Southern and Northern Taurids, active from late September to early December. Their radiants are in the constellation Taurus. Rates are low, usually only about 5 per hour, but the showers are famous for producing slow, bright fireballs, sometimes called Halloween fireballs because they are common in late October and early November.
The Taurids are associated with Comet 2P/Encke, which has the shortest orbital period of any known bright comet, about 3.3 years. Some astronomers suggest Encke and several asteroids are fragments of a much larger comet that broke apart thousands of years ago, forming a broad stream called the Taurid Complex.
In some years, such as 2005 and 2015, Earth passes through a dense swarm of larger particles, and fireball rates increase markedly. The Taurids are slow, about 27 to 29 kilometres per second, which makes their fireballs easy to follow and photograph.
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Level: Explorer Ages 10 and up