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WASHINGTON, DC – Tauridae in the South and North do not generate hype or get the same respect as other meteor showers. They do not produce a lot of meteors – maybe a handful per hour – but Taurides are known for a high percentage of dramatic fireballs. They now fly over DC and northern Virginia and reach their peak of activity on Sunday and Monday, November 4 and 5. The meteors should be visible until the end of November.
There is no moon to intervene, and the climate in the Washington, DC area will be ideal to start. The weather forecasts a clear sky Saturday night; partly cloudy then increasing with rain after 2:00 Sunday evening; and mostly cloudy with rain Monday night, according to the National Weather Service.
When Comet Encke turns around the sun, she leaves behind a trail of debris. Some years – 2015, for example – they produce explosions, but it's not one of those years. Explosions occur when Jupiter orbits near the flow of comets and its gravity pushes the particles towards the Earth.
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The meteor observers could witness an explosion in 2019, said Bill Cooke, a meteorological expert at NASA, Space.com.
To see more meteors, be patient. Your best chances of seeing fireballs occur between midnight and dawn. The radiant point, Taurus the bull, will be well above the horizon. This is not far from the group of Pleiades stars, also known as Seven Sisters.
"You do not have to identify this constellation to see the meteors," Earthsky said. "They will appear everywhere in the sky."
The Tauride meteor shower is unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. The southern Taurids, which have already peaked, are produced by the asteroid 2004 TG10.
You can also start seeing meteors associated with the Leonid meteor shower, which runs from November 6th to 30th. It's a little more prolific than the Taurides, which produce about 15 meteors per hour at its peak, which occurs around November 17-18. This rain has a cyclonic peak every 33 years where hundreds of shooting stars can be seen. The last time this happened was in 2001.
What makes the Leonids spectacular is their rapid movement in the sky – about 44 miles per second – and this increases the chances of fireball formation.
The spectacular Geminids, from the constellation Gemini, are also coming. Typically one of the best meteor showers of the year, it produces up to 120 multicolored meteors at its peak, from December 13th to 17th. The shower will take place from December 7 to 17, and viewing conditions are expected to be excellent this year, as the first lunar quarter will go down shortly after midnight, leaving a dark sky in prime time.
(NASA Photo / Getty Images)
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