THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM

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43.6667° N                   70.2667° W 

Altitude:  10 feet below sea level

Founded January 1970
Julian Date: 2458795.16

2019-2020:  LI

             "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves."

                            -Shakespeare

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Tail End of the Taurids

Well, yes, the Leonids garner most of the attention as that famous meteor shower has produced meteor storms in the past that have inflamed the entire sky.  However, the lesser known Taurid meteor shower has much to recommend it. Not least of its interesting features is its duplicity: the Taurids consist of a northern and southern shower, aptly named the Northern Taurids and the Southern Taurids, respectively.   These showers are actually separate, as they have different parent bodies.   Comet Encke is the progenitor of the Northern Taurids, while the asteroid 2004 TG₁₀    

_{spawns the Southern Taurids.    By this statement, we mean that the meteoroids responsible for the Northern Taurid meteors are fragments cast off by Comet Encke and those of the Southern Taurids flaked off the asteroid.      As the meteoroids descend through the upper atmosphere, they excite nearby atoms, causing their electrons to elevate into higher energy orbits.   The meteors we observe are the photons emitted by these electrons when they return to their original energy states.}

_{Their names are similar because the constellation Taurus encloses their radiants, the apparent convergence points for the meteors.  The above image shows the approximate location of these radiants.}

The apparent emanation of these meteors from Taurus is illusory:  the meteoroids are generally moving along paths parallel to Earth's surface.    The Southern Taurid shower begins around September 10th, ends on November 20th and peaks on October 10th.The Northern Taurid shower starts on October 20th, ends on December 10th and peaks on November 12th. The peaks of both showers aren't generally spectacular.   The Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) for both is 5 - 6.  The ZHR refers to the number of meteors a seasoned observer would see where he/she in a completely dark sky and if the radiant were at the zenith, the point directly overhead.    

 This rate is comparable to the rate of sporadic meteors we would see per hour, anyway.  Sporadic meteors are those that are not associated with any specific shower.  Now that the peak dates have passed for both, we can expect to see even fewer.  However, both showers are still active, the Northern Taurids more so than its southern counterpart.      As is the case with meteor showers, observers are advised to seek them out after midnight when the radiants are higher in the east and our part of the planet will be turning into the meteor stream.

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