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

Between coronaviruses, forest fires and the presidential election, 2020 was an overwhelming year. But it also brought a breathtaking, once in a lifetime heavenly activity comet, to close approach with Mars and countless meteor showers.

November is no exception, as the Leonid is Tauride meteor showers promise to light up the night sky with shooting stars and bright fireballs. Additionally, November also brings a supermoon, as does the infamous star cluster known as the Pleiades.

What are the Leonids and the Taurids?

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

Leonids are famous for their fireballs and Earthgrazer’s meteors. Fireballs are massive bursts of light and color, longer than an average meteor, while Earthgrazers are meteors that crawl 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.

Approximately every 33 years, sky watchers experience a Leonid storm, with hundreds or thousands of meteors visible every hour, which sometimes appear to be falling like rain. The last storm took place in 2002.

The Leonids are caused by the dust and debris of 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 the Earth’s atmosphere at 159,000 miles per hour.

Meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Leo, but it is actually best to look at the meteors away from the radiant. Looking directly at it will make shooting stars appear shorter and less spectacular.

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

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

Dust hits the atmosphere at 65,000 miles per hour, creating the Tauride shower. Shooting stars from the shower can be seen whenever the constellation of Taurus is above the horizon during the fall months.

Like watching showers

The peak of the Northern Taurid showers on Wednesday 11 November, while the peak of the Leonid showers on Tuesday morning, 17 November.

More than 280 people, including the writer of this story, reported seeing a fireball in Connecticut and New York on Sunday at around 7:22 pm EST. 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 with no light sources, clear cloudless skies, a clear view of the sky, and uninterrupted darkness. It is always best to come prepared to stay for several hours, with a sleeping bag or blanket to keep warm.

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

More heavenly activity in November

On Saturday morning, November 14, at 6:44 am EST, the moon will be at perigee, the closest point in orbit to Earth, NASA said. Then, at 12:07 am 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.

Since 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 in the colder months in the Northern Hemisphere. Using binoculars or a telescope, you can see hundreds of stars, but some of the brightest are visible to the naked eye.

The next meteor shower, the Geminids, is one of the strongest of the year, peaking on 13-14 December.