2018 Southern Taurids Peak Sunday Night, Oct. 28, to Pre-Dawn, Oct. 29

Summary: The 2018 Southern Taurids peak Sunday night, Oct. 28, to pre-dawn Monday, Oct. 29, as a long-lasting minor annual display from September to November.

Southern Taurids occur annually as a long-lasting minor shower that notably shoots colorful fireballs: Marty Coniglio @martyconiglio, via Twitter Nov. 4, 2014

The 2018 Southern Taurids peak Sunday night, Oct. 28, to pre-dawn Monday, Oct. 29, as a long-lasting minor shower that annually displays from mid-late September to mid-late November.

The American Meteor Society gives 2018 activity dates of Sunday, Sept. 23, to Monday, Nov. 19, for the long-lasting meteor shower. Several minor peaks occur in both October and November.

The American Meteor Society notes the Southern Taurid meteor shower’s reputation for fireballs. A meteor exceeding any planet or star in brightness qualifies as a fireball. A fireball’s magnitude is brighter than minus 4.

NASA’s Watch the Skies blog characterizes Taurid meteor size and trajectory. “Taurid meteors tend to be larger than the norm, which means they are bright, many being fireballs. They also penetrate deeper into Earth’s atmosphere than many other shower meteors. For example, Orionids typically burn up at altitudes of 58 miles, whereas Taurids make it down to 42 miles.”

The moon shines competitively during the Southern Taurid meteor shower’s peak. The waning gibbous phase displays 84 percent surface visibility of the lunar disk.

The 2018 Southern Taurid meteor shower’s nearly two months of activity open and close with the moon’s competitive waxing gibbous phase. The 2018 shower’s opening dates contend with the waxing gibbous moon’s 98 percent surface visibility for Sunday, Sept. 23. Full moon brightness takes over Tuesday, Sept. 25.

The waxing gibbous moon increases surface visibility in the 2018 Southern Taurid meteor shower’s closing days. Surface visibility reaches 77 percent for Sunday, Nov. 18. Visibility climbs to 85 percent for Monday, Nov. 19.

The American Meteor Society describes the Southern Taurids as a slow-velocity meteor shower. Meteors achieve a velocity of 17 miles per second (27 kilometers per second).

A meteor shower’s zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) defines the observable rate under optimal radiant and sky conditions. The American Meteor Society assigns a zenithal hourly rate of five shower members per hour for the Southern Taurids.

The Southern Taurids occur as an autumn meteor shower in the Northern Hemisphere. Visibility also includes the Southern Hemisphere, where September through November are experienced as spring months.

Two streams compose the Taurid meteors. The Southern Taurids’ partner stream is known as the Northern Taurid meteor shower.

The American Meteor Society gives 2018 activity dates of Friday, Oct. 19 to Monday, Dec. 10, for the Northern Taurids. The shower will peak between the night Saturday, Nov. 10, and pre-dawn Sunday, Nov. 11.

The meteor showers’ shared name, Taurid, reflects an apparent point of origin, known as the radiant, in Taurus the Bull Constellation. The southern stream’s name reflects its radiant’s placement south of the ecliptic, the sun’s apparent sky path. The northern stream’s radiant lies north of the ecliptic.

Both streams claim comet 2P/Encke as parent body. Comet Encke’s orbital period of 3.3 years, or 1,204.198131518449 days, qualifies the small comet as a short-period comet. Short-period comets exhibit orbital periods of less than 200 years.

Comet 2P/Encke’s orbit emphasizes the inner solar system. The small comet’s path does not extend beyond Jupiter.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Solar System Dynamics website places Comet 2P/Encke between Mars and Jupiter on the Southern Taurid meteor shower’s peak date, Sunday night, Oct. 28. At 23:00 Coordinated Universal Time (7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time), Encke’s Comet logs an Earth distance of 3.608 astronomical units (au) and a sun distance of 4.007 au. One astronomical unit roughly equals the distance from Earth to sun. The unit’s exact length is 149,597,870,700 meters (about 150 million kilometers; 93 million miles).

Thomas William Backhouse (Aug. 14, 1842-March 13, 1920) is credited with discovering the Southern Taurids. The Victorian amateur astronomer and meteorologist noted five meteors Nov. 6, 1869, from his residence at West Hendon House, Sunderland, North East England, where he maintained an observatory.

The takeaways for the 2018 Southern Taurid meteor shower’s peak Sunday night, Oct. 28, to pre-dawn, Oct. 29, are that the annual minor meteor shower endures for almost two months and that the long-lasting shower often lobs colorful fireballs across the nighttime sky.

orbital position of Southern Taurid meteor shower’s parent body, Comet 2P/Encke, at 23:00 (11 p.m.) Coordinated Universal Time (7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) during peak date, Sunday night, Oct. 28, to pre-dawn Monday, Oct. 29, 2018: JPL’s Solar System Dynamics, May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Southern Taurids occur annually as a long-lasting minor shower that notably shoots colorful fireballs: Marty Coniglio @martyconiglio, via Twitter Nov. 4, 2014

orbital position of South Taurid meteor shower’s parent body, Comet 2P/Encke, at 23:00 (11 p.m.) Coordinated Universal Time (7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) during peak date, Sunday night, Oct. 28, to pre-dawn Monday, Oct. 29, 2018: JPL’s Solar System Dynamics, ay be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory @ https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?ID=c00002_0;old=0;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#orb

For further information:

“2P/Encke.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Dynamics > JPL Small-Body Database Browser.
Available @ https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?ID=c00002_0

American Meteor Society. “Northern Taurids.” American Meteor Society > Meteor Showers > Meteor Shower Calendar.
Available @ https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/

American Meteor Society. “Southern Taurids.” American Meteor Society > Meteor Showers > Meteor Shower Calendar.
Available @ https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/

Bone, Neil M. “Visual Observations of the Taurid Meteor Shower 1981-1988.” Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol. 101, no. 3: 145-152.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1991JBAA..101..145B

Daily Mail Online ‏@MailOnline. "The Taurid meteor shower will reach its peak tonight." Twitter. Nov. 5, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MailOnline/status/662273441186373633

Dave Curren ‏@DaveCurren. "The #Taurid meteor shower will send bright fireballs across our #NJ sky thru Nov 10th. Look east." Twitter. Nov. 3, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/DaveCurren/status/661705857936269312

International Meteor Organization. “Southern Taurids.” International Meteor Organization > Resources > Meteor Shower Calendar.
Available @ https://www.imo.net/resources/calendar/2018/

Jenniskens, Peter. Meteor Showers and Their Parent Comets. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

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Available @ http://meteorshowersonline.com/showers/taurids.html

Lunsford, Robert. Meteors and How to Observe Them. Astronomers’ Observing Guides. New York NY: Springer Science+Business Media, 2009.

Marriner, Derdriu. “2015 Taurid Meteor Showers Peak Before Dawn Nov. 5 and Nov. 12.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/2015-taurid-meteor-showers-peak-before.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “November Nights: Orion Dodges Taurid Fireballs, Leonids Shower Jupiter.” Earth and Space News. Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/november-nights-orion-dodges-taurid.html

Marty Coniglio @martyconiglio. "Taurid meteor shower may produce a few fireballs (if we're lucky)." Twitter. Nov. 4, 2014.
Available @ https://twitter.com/martyconiglio/status/529658687380406272

McClure, Bruce. “South Taurid Meteors to Peak in October?” EarthSky > Astronomy Essentials. Oct. 9, 2018.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/?p=286099

McClure, Bruce; and Deborah Byrd. “Watch for Taurid Fireballs, Too.” EarthSky > Astronomy Essentials. Oct. 19, 2018.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/?p=223614

“Moon Phases October 2018.” Calendar-12.com > Moon Calendar > 2018.
Available @ https://www.calendar-12.com/moon_calendar/2018/october

Peat, Chris. “Comet 2P Encke.” Heavens Above > Astronomy > Comets.
Available @ https://www.heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?cid=2P&lat=0&lng=0&loc=D&alt=0&tz=CET

Rao, Joe. “’Old Faithful’ Comet Encke Makes Appearance in November Night Sky.” Space.com > Skywatching. Nov. 12, 2013.
Available @ https://www.space.com/23561-comet-encke-november-night-sky.html

Sekanina, Zdenek. “Encke, the Comet.” Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, vol. 85, no. 6 (December 1991): 324-376.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1991JRASC..85..324S

Shekhtman, Lonnie; Elizabeth Landau; and Celeste Hoang. “2P/Encke.” NASA Science Solar System Exploration > Small Bodies > Comets. Updated Dec. 8, 2017.
Available via NASA Science Solar System Exploration @ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/small-bodies/comets/2p-encke/in-depth/

“Taurids Dust the November Sky.” NASA Blogs > Watch the Skies. Nov. 8, 2011.
Available @ https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/tag/taurid-meteor/