November’s Celestial Bonanza Will Treat Stargazers To Three Meteor Showers

While October may have ended in a spectacular fashion with a headless comet meeting its demise, November promises to be just as exciting for skywatchers. Be sure to be on the lookout for three different meteor showers that promise to provide plenty of shooting stars.

The first of three upcoming meteor showers to light up the night sky is the Southern Taurids. These shooting stars should be visible everywhere on Earth, outside the South Pole, and are peaking tonight and tomorrow night. The timing of the Southern Taurids gives those hopeful of having the best chance of catching a shooting star this month, because the moon is in its waxing crescent phase and only 11 percent illuminated. The meteors should be visible near the Taurus constellation, with about 10 meteors per hour being predicted.

Comet 2/P Encke, or Encke’s Comet, is believed to be responsible for the Southern Taurid meteor showers. Oddly enough, it was discovered four times prior to it receiving its name. The first to discover it was Pierre Mechian in 1786. Next up was Caroline Herschel of England in 1795. Then ten years later, Jean-Louis Pons discovered it in 1805. The fourth was Hofrath Huth of Germany in the same year.


The Northern Taurids are also viewable this month, with its peak expected on November 12. As with its sibling, the Northern Taurids should be visible near the constellation of Taurus. Peak viewing time with this meteor shower will be after midnight, once Taurus is high in the night sky, and sky is at its darkest.

A recent study indicated the Northern Taurids may not be produced by a singular comet or asteroid. Instead, it is believed up to 10 asteroids may be responsible for the Northern Taurids.

According to EarthSky, the third expected meteor shower, the Leonids, began on November 3, but will peak on November 18. The best time to view this annual meteor shower will be late on the night of November 17, until dawn on November 18. While this year's light show will only produce 10 to 15 shooting stars per hour from the Leonids, this famous meteor shower did produce one of the most memorable in modern times delivering rates as high as thousands of meteors per minute during a 15-minute span on the morning of November 17, 1966.

The Leonids will appear to radiate from around the constellation of Leo, and originate from periodic Comet Tempel-Tuttle, officially known as 55P/Temple-Tuttle. The comet was named after William Tempel of Marseilles Observatory in France, who discovered it in December of 1865.