Two meteor showers bring shooting stars and fireballs into the night sky this week

Between coronavirus, Forest fires and the presidential election, 2020 has been an overwhelming year. But he also brought breathtaking heavenly activity, including once in a lifetime. comet, a close approach with Mars and countless meteor showers.

November is no exception, as the Leonid and Tauride Meteor showers promise to light up the night sky with shooting stars and glowing fireballs. In addition, November also brings a super moon, as well as the infamous star cluster known as the Pleiades.

What are the Leonids and the Taurids?

The Leonids are a heavy meteor shower that lights up the sky every year from November 6 to 30. The shower brings in bright, colorful meteors that travel at speeds of 44 miles per second – some of the fastest of the year, according to NASA.

Leonids are famous for their fireballs and Earthgrazer meteors. Fireballs are massive explosions of light and color, longer than an average meteor, while Earthgrazers are meteors that stagnate near the horizon line, known for their long, colorful dust tails.

Under ideal conditions, the Leonid meteor shower produces between 10 and 20 visible meteors per hour.

Every 33 years or so, sky watchers experience Storm Leonid, with hundreds to thousands of meteors visible every hour, sometimes appearing to fall like rain. The last storm was in 2002.

Leonids are caused by dust and debris from Comet 55P / Tempel-Tuttle, which takes 33 years to orbit the sun. The little comet, discovered in 1865 and 1866 by Ernst Tempel and Horace Tuttle, enters Earth’s atmosphere at 159,000 miles per hour.

Meteors appear to be beaming from the constellation Leo, but it’s actually best to see meteors far from the radiant. Looking at it directly will make shooting stars shorter and less spectacular.

When Earth passes through the debris of Comet 2P / Encke each year from September to November, Taurid rain meteors are visible. However, the long-lasting rain is weak in most years, bringing only a few meteors per hour.

Southern Taurids are visible from September 10 to November 20, with a peak from October 29 to 30, while the Northern Taurids are visible from October 20 to December 10, with a peak from November 11 to 12. Both Taurids are known for their fireballs, often responsible for an increased number of reports of fireballs during the fall months.

The dust reaches the atmosphere at 65,000 miles per hour, creating the Taurid shower. The shooting stars of the shower can be seen whenever the constellation Taurus is above the horizon during the fall months.

How to watch showers

The Taurides du Nord shower peaks on Wednesday November 11, while the Leonid shower peaks on Tuesday morning, November 17. The best time to spot shower activity for both showers is after midnight but before dawn.

More than 280 people, including the author of this story, reported seeing a fireball over Connecticut and New York City at around 7:22 p.m. EST on Sunday. This fireball activity is likely to continue throughout the month, and you never know when or where you might spot one.

Ideal conditions for viewing include a dark place without any light source, a clear cloudless sky, a clear view of the sky, and uninterrupted darkness. It is always best to be prepared to stay for several hours, with a sleeping bag or blanket to stay warm.

Your feet should be facing east as you lie on your back and look up. Give your eyes plenty of time to adjust and be patient while you wait for the shooting stars to light up the sky.

Another celestial activity in November

On Saturday morning, November 14, at 6:44 a.m. EST, the moon will be at perigee, the point in the orbit where it is closest to Earth, NASA said. Then at 12:07 p.m. EST on Sunday, November 15, there will be a new moon – when the moon is not visible from Earth as it passes between our planet and the sun.

Because this phenomenon occurs when the moon is closest to Earth, it is classified as a “supermoon”. Diwali, the 5-day Hindu festival of lights, is celebrated in the days surrounding this new moon.

This month, sky watchers can also spot the Pleiades, a bright cluster of thousands of stars that can be seen during the northern hemisphere’s colder months. Using binoculars or a telescope, you can see hundreds of stars – but a handful of the brightest are visible to the naked eye.

The next meteor shower, the Geminids, is one of the strongest of the year, with a peak on December 13 and 14.