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Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: 2005 Taurid Meteor Shower

*Fireball sightings, eh?  This info from spaceweather.com:

In recent nights, sky watchers have seen some spectacular fireballs. Experts suspect it's the Taurid meteor shower, a display caused by debris from Comet Encke.

Most years the Taurid shower is weak, producing few meteors, mostly dim.  2005 appears to be different. Earth may be passing through a "swarm" of pebbles and rocks within the larger cloud of Taurid space dust.  The pebbles are responsible for the fireballs.

The 2005 Taurid meteor shower is not over. Indeed, it's just beginning. Forecasters expect the complex shower to peak during the first two weeks of November.  So keep an eye on the sky!

PHOTO:  Taurid fireball, Oct. 28, H. Iida from Japan

That is a beauty of a photo.    Everything about it...looks like a postcard. 

Ye Olde Star Chart and other additional info.  Radiant is very near the Pleiades and that's a true can't-miss.

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Alt

InActive

Registered: 2005-09-24

Posts: 4

Re: 2005 Taurid Meteor Shower

On Halloween Night, I was walking 7 miles between the two communities I am visiting.  it was anew moon, and I saw the second largest fireball I'd ever seen shoot across the sky.

It was bright like a lightning bolt, and lit up the entire sky.

I also saw 5 more shooting stars that night.  More than I would normally see in 2 hours.

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: 2005 Taurid Meteor Shower

*Hi Alt:  Cool. 

Reports of Taurid fireballs over Alaska:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051106/ap_ … r_shower_1

Folks in Germany, Australia and New Zealand are also reporting seeing fireballs.  They certainly sound spectacular.  I've yet to see one myself, unfortunately. 

--Cindy

::EDIT::  Just now checked spaceweather.com.  They're hosting two movies of fireballs over El Paso, TX.  When I click on the link it won't show on this computer, but perhaps it might on yours:

http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/sw … ll_big.mov

http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/sw … _nov05.mov

I have 2 computers; will see how those links work on the other one.  Meanwhile, they are being hosted at spaceweather.com's homepage for today's date (the site archives daily).

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: 2005 Taurid Meteor Shower

*Taurids are still producing fireballs.  As recently as November 12 a man from Northern Ireland captured images of a fireball.  Unfortunately I cannot link to those images dated November 14 at spaceweather.com's View archives section, to post them here.  Rather spectacular, though.  Seems the fireball activity is lingering a bit longer than expected.

However, they're being referred to as occasional fireballs.

I've not seen one. 

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: 2005 Taurid Meteor Shower

On Halloween Night, I was walking 7 miles between the two communities I am visiting.  it was anew moon, and I saw the second largest fireball I'd ever seen shoot across the sky.

It was bright like a lightning bolt, and lit up the entire sky.

I also saw 5 more shooting stars that night.  More than I would normally see in 2 hours.

*I saw a Taurid last night -- finally.    A bit of a stroke of luck, too (my husband and I go for a 1-mile walk nearly every evening; hadn't yet seen any during the walks).  Later in the evening I'd just stepped outdoors to do a bit of stargazing when a bright white-yellow fireball streaked southward of Aldebaran.  I'd just cleared a couple of trees in our yard and happened to glance in that direction, seeing Orion rising in the SE.  Perfect timing. 

Waited outdoors for a while, hoping to see another.  Nope.  But one's better than none. 

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)