Taurids

The Taurids are an annual meteor shower associated with the comet Encke. They are named after their radiant point in the constellation Taurus, where they are seen to come from in the sky. Because of their occurrence in late October and early November, they are also called Halloween fireballs.

Encke and the Taurids are believed to be remnants of a much larger comet, which has disintegrated over the past 20,000 to 30,000 years, breaking into several pieces and releasing material by normal cometary activity or perhaps occasionally by close encounters with the gravitational field of Earth or other planets (Whipple, 1940; Klačka, 1999). In total, this stream of matter is the largest in the inner solar system. Due to the stream's size, the Earth takes several weeks to pass through it, causing an extended period of meteor activity, compared with the much smaller periods of activity in other showers. The Taurids are also made up of weightier material, pebbles instead of dust grains.

Typically, Taurids appear at a rate of about 7 per hour, moving slowly across the sky at about 17 miles per second (27 kilometers per second), or 65,000 miles per hour. If large enough, these meteors may become bolides, with spectacular light shows and even audible sound.^{[citation needed]}

Due to the gravitational effect of planets, especially Jupiter, the Taurids have spread out over time, allowing separate segments labeled the Northern Taurids and Southern Taurids to become observable. Essentially these are two cross sections of a single, broad, continuous stream in space. The Beta Taurids, encountered by the Earth in June/July and which many astronomers consider the cause of the Tunguska event, are also a cross section of the stream. Beta Taurids approach from the Earth's daytime side; so cannot be observed visually in the way the (night-time) Northern and Southern Taurids of October/November can.

The Taurid stream has a cycle of activity that peaks roughly every 2500 to 3000 years, when its core passes nearer to Earth and produces more intense showers. In fact, because of the separate "branches" (night-time in one part of the year and daytime in another; and Northern/Southern in each case) there are two (possibly overlapping) peaks separated by a few centuries, every 3000 years. Some astronomers note that dates for megalith structures such as Stonehenge are associated with these peaks. The next peak is expected around 3000 AD.

The Taurids also have more frequent peaks which may result from a heavier concentration of material in the stream, which only hits Earth during some passes.

Some^[who?] consider the Bronze Age breakup of the originally larger comet to be responsible for ancient destruction in the Fertile Crescent, perhaps evidenced by a large meteor crater in Iraq. However the Bronze Age was c. 6000 years ago and the original break up of the parent comet, as mentioned above, occurred long before that. Ancient peoples may have been used to Tunguska Class impacts which occur approximately every 300 years as calculated by Eugene Shoemaker and Krakatoa type eruptions both of which have widespread climatic effects and which would dwarf any climatic effects from the slight increase in upper atmospheric dust caused by bolides due to passing through the tail of Comet Encke^{[citation needed]}.

Meteor impact on the Moon

An impact event was observed by NASA scientist Rob Suggs and astronomer Bill Cooke while testing out a new 10-in telescope and video camera they had assembled to monitor the moon for meteor strikes [1]. After consulting star charts they concluded that the impact body was probably part of the Taurid meteor shower. This may well be the first recording of this type of lunar event which some have claimed to have witnessed in the past. See [2].

Taurids and UFOs

During the week ending November 4, 2005, the large number of fireballs seen all over the world led some to suggest UFO visitations. These fireballs may have been space junk or the Taurids [3].

References

• Klačka, Jozef (1999). "Meteor Streams of Comet Encke. Taurid Meteor Complex". Abstract

• Whipple, F.L. (1940). "Photographic meteor studies. III. The Taurid shower."

Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., 83, 711–745.

External links

• November 2008 Taurid Meteor Fireballs
• Taurid Meteors To Peak Monday
• Meteor Shower Promises Seven Shooting Stars an Hour – National Geographic News
• Fireball Sightings – NASA
• CNN
• "NASA team sees explosion on Moon"
• Natural Catastrophes during Bronze Age Civilisations Archaeological, Geological and Astronomical Perspectives
• Introduction and background to the conference
• Abstract by Bill Napier (Armagh Observatory) Cometary Catastrophes, Cosmic Dust and Ecological Disasters in Historical Times: The Astronomical Framework
• Scientific articles pertaining to the Taurid complex