Best time to see the Taurid meteor shower

An astronomical phenomenon could grace the night sky with its presence on Election Day.

The Taurids meteor shower will be visible around midnight Tuesday, according to the American Meteorological Society.

Every year from September to November, the Earth passes through a wide stream of debris left behind by comets. According to NASA, when dust from a comet hits Earth’s atmosphere at 65,000 mph, it burns up and creates a meteor shower.

The Taurids meteor shower comes from Comet Encke, which is one of the largest comets in the solar system, Bill Cook, NASA’s meteoroid environmental director, told ABC News. Encke itself is just a fragment of a comet that disintegrated about 10,000 years ago and produced several smaller objects, he added.

The meteor shower has two branches: the Northern Taurids and the Southern Taurids.

The Southern Taurids are the first branch to reach the Earth’s atmosphere. This year it became active on September 23 and is expected to last until December 8.

Visibility for the Southern Taurids is expected to be best on Monday and Tuesday as the Moon will be only 11% full – just when the meteor event is expected to peak, according to AMS.

Maximum Northern Taurid activity will follow in about a week. The Northern Taurids are forecast to peak on November 11th and 12th, according to AMS. However, according to AMS, the moon will be about 79% full, obscuring visibility.

The Northern Taurids became active on October 13th and are expected to last until December 2nd.

According to AMS, both branches of the Taurids are rich in fireballs and often lead to an increase in fireball reports from September to November.

A “swarm” of fireballs could occur when Earth collides with a group of pebble-sized comet fragments, according to NASA.

The next swarm is expected in November 2025, Cook said.

“What makes them so special is that Taurids are big,” Cook said. “These are large pieces of debris and they produce very spectacular fireballs.”

According to Cook, the Taurids appear to originate from the constellation Taurus.

Midnight is usually the best time to see them because the constellation Taurus is high in the sky at that time, Cook said.

Although he added: “Taurus is not worth looking at because the meteors coming from there will have short trains and will be weak.”

In addition, the Taurids are visible from almost anywhere on Earth except the South Pole.

The best way to see them is to move as far away from light pollution as possible and look straight up while lying on your back, Cook says. Meteors will appear throughout the night sky.

Patience is key when searching for shooting stars, Sean Dahl, coordinator of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, told ABC News.

“Sometimes the best time to spend is to look at the sky for a few hours in hopes of seeing them,” Dahl said.

According to NASA, although the Taurids are considered a long-lasting meteor shower, they rarely produce more than five members of the shower per hour, even at peak activity.

“In most years, the shower is weak, and only a few Taurid meteors can be seen each night,” NASA said. “Other years the Taurids might put on a show.”

According to Cook, the Taurids are one of two meteor showers (the other being the Geminids) that can produce meteorites.

“We call a meteor a shooting star,” he explained. “If something hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.”

Most meteors burn up before they can enter the atmosphere, but the Taurids linger because they move relatively slowly as they enter the atmosphere, Cook said.

The Taurids are part of a consortium of spectacular astronomical events in recent months.

The Orionid meteor shower occurred last month and a large explosion of T Coronae Borealis, also known as the “Burning Star”, is expected to occur in the near future.

The Geminids, which can sometimes produce up to 100 meteors per hour, will occur in mid-December.

“If you look at the sky for an hour during the peak of the meteor shower, it’s a good opportunity to be sure to see at least a nice, streaky, fast meteor,” Dahl said of the Geminids.

Additionally, the current solar cycle is approaching its peak, which could lead to more frequent and larger-scale aurora activity.