To be certain you have seen a Northern Taurid trace the meteor trail back and it should go all the way to the radiant. As with all meteor showers it's best not to look directly at the radiant itself the meteors can appear many degrees away from it in and even in a completely different area of sky. Often many bright fireballs are visible that move slowly across the night sky leaving spectacular trails in their wake.
When the meteors strike the atmosphere they do at a relatively slow speed of 30km/sec (67,500 km/hour or 42,000 miles/hour). The rate for the Northern Taurids is 5 meteors per hour although it sometimes can be slightly higher.
#METEOR SHOWER NOVEMBER 11 2015 PDF#
Northern Taurids Radiant and Star Chart - pdf format (credit:- freestarcharts) As with most meteor showers the best time to look is after midnight. Northern Hemisphere observers are best placed to spot the meteors although they can be seen from locations much further south as well. This part of the sky is located in the northwest section of the Taurus and only 3 degrees southeast of the famous naked eye open cluster M45 or the Pleiades. The radiant for the Northern Taurids is large and centred at +3h 52m and +22 degrees. Comet Encke and the Taurids are believed to be remnants of a much larger comet which disintegrated sometime over the past 20,000 to 30,000 years. The meteors are associated with periodic comet Encke (2P/Encke) which orbits the Sun once every 3.3 years the shortest period of any known comet. The Northern Taurids is the slightly better shower although both have low activity rates. The second stream is produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke. The first is produced by dust grains left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10. The North Taurid meteor shower is expected to peak this Thursday and Friday, with the potential to produce a few fireballs. It is unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. Hunt says the fireball seen Wednesday night was a larger piece of debris, which can be very colorful when it explodes as it enters the atmosphere. However, meteors can happen at any point in time. Although originating from the same parent comet the Taurids have now spread out to create two individual showers, the Northern Taurids (NTA) and the Southern Taurids (STA). The Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour. A meteor shower is when you’re more likely to see meteors. Despite frequently seen during the remainder of the 19th century it wasn't until 1918 it was realised that a new shower had been found. The Taurids have long been identified as an old meteor stream with the first recorded observations made in 1869. In addition, this year's event has good prospects as the New Moon will not interfere at all. When bright Taurids arrive authorities are usually in for a busy night with a flurry of UFO reports. Although the Zenith Hourly Rate or the number of meteors that can be seen per hour under ideal conditions is low the Northern Taurids often produces spectacular fireballs. The northern part of the Taurid meteor shower peaks this year on the night of November 11/12th.
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