New Delhi: Come tomorrow and the night sky will dazzle with Taurids, the meteor that showers startling streaks of light during Halloween.
Sky-gazers can see the javelin-shaped Taurids at their peak on Monday, Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) President Chander Bhushan Devgun told reporters.
"The Taurids are annual meteor shower associated with comet Encke. They will appear at a rate of about 7 to 10 per hour, moving across the sky at about 27 kilometres per second.
So one can expect to see a meteor every six minutes," he said.
Taurids are named after their radiant point in the constellation Taurus, from where they are believed to come from. Owing to their occurrence in late October and early November they are also called Halloween fireballs.
The shooting stars, which appear in the sky when a dust particle from outer space burns up high in the Earth's atmosphere, will be seen throughout the night from the moment the light starts to fade till the first light of dawn.
Encke and the Taurids are believed to be remnants of a much larger comet, which disintegrated over the past 20,000 to 30,000 years.
Taurids, made up of heavier material and pebbles, if large enough, may become boulders, with spectacular show of light and even sound.
The Taurids have been identified as very old meteor stream. There are two branches of the Taurids active for long duration in the Autumn months (or Spring months in the Southern Hemisphere).
The meteor was discovered in 1869. The Northern Taurids were observed by Giuseppe Zezioli (Bergamo, Italy) during November 1-7, when he spotted 11 meteors from a radiant.
Bureau Report