Skywatchers get a seasonal treat this weekend. The Taurid meteor showers, nicknamed the Halloween fireballs, are active across the night sky, and conditions this Halloween weekend are unusually favourable for spotting one.
The nickname covers two overlapping showers, the Southern Taurids and the Northern Taurids. Both produce slow, bright meteors that can outshine most other shooting stars, and both trace back to debris from comet 2P/Encke.
The Taurids are not a numbers game. Under a dark sky, observers can expect around five meteors per hour from each branch. The payoff is quality over quantity: a single Taurid fireball, drifting slowly across the sky, is worth the wait.
By Halloween weekend the Moon is only half-lit and sits away from the constellation Taurus, so its glare will not wash out fainter trails. The best time to look is around midnight, when Taurus climbs high in the southern sky. Face south, find a spot with a clear horizon, and give your eyes time to adjust.
The showers run for weeks yet. The Southern Taurids peak around November 5 and the Northern Taurids around November 12, with dark skies near the November 9 new Moon. Any clear night from now into mid-November offers a chance of catching a fireball.
Source: BBC Sky at Night Magazine
