Southern Taurids

[Rainingstar (Lorraine)]

Hi All,
I have read that the peak for the Southern Taurids is Nov 5th, but I'm not sure what time would be the best to try and observe them. Would anyone be able to tell me please. I am in the Darling Downs area Queensland.
Thanks Lorraine

[Rainingstar (Lorraine)]

Originally Posted by Rainingstar

Hi All,
I have read that the peak for the Southern Taurids is Nov 5th, but I'm not sure what time would be the best to try and observe them. Would anyone be able to tell me please. I am in the Darling Downs area Queensland.
Thanks Lorraine

Thanks everbody, don't worry about answering my query. It's going to be storming here this afternoon and tonight.As our tanks are almost empty I would rather see the rain anyday.

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Generally you only see meteor showers when the radiant is above the horizon. So you should try to find out where about the radiant is in Taurus and when that area of Taurus will be above the horizon at your location. Mid to late evening, or there abouts, I would think, will depend on your latitude.

[Rainingstar (Lorraine)]

Originally Posted by Blue Skies

Generally you only see meteor showers when the radiant is above the horizon. So you should try to find out where about the radiant is in Taurus and when that area of Taurus will be above the horizon at your location. Mid to late evening, or there abouts, I would think, will depend on your latitude.

Thanks Jacquie,
I appreciate the reply,I'll look again next year as we have a lot of cloud cover which I expect will hang around for a while. I don't mind though because we had 12 mm rain overnight and are anticipating hopefully a litte more. Great news when you are reliant on tank water only. Thanks again
Loraine

[Paddy (Patrick)]

I was just reading about these in Astronomy 2009, having seen some beauties last night - very slow and bright. Apparently the peak is about the 5th, but high activity lasts for about 10 days, so you will still get a chance should your skies clear before too long.

[Rainingstar (Lorraine)]

Thanks Patrick I will keep a watch out for them, I never seem to have much luck when I try to find current meteor showers, I have only ever seen a few individual metors never a "shower". I guess I'm never looking in the right place at the right time. Having said that though I was watching for the Orionids on the 21st October and I saw 4 meteors in one hour and one was beautiful, slow moving orange and left a faint trail. I don't know if they were part of the Orionid shower but I was delightede to see them.

Lorraine

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

What you are just describing in your above post, only seeing a few individuals and not a 'shower', is often the reality of the situation. A real 'shower' as most would think of it is called a storm event in meteor watching! They don't happen often, unfortunately. From years spent watching the eta Aquarids in particular, one of the better showers for us south of the equator, its more like "there's one coming from the radiant....(wait five minutes)... ok, theres another...(30 seconds)....two faints ones ....(wait another 5 minutes)...yay! a big one!...(two minutes)...and another... " So there is often a lot of waiting about and not seeing much. When you collate that info and look back at it, it looks impressive compared to a non-shower background rate of sporadics but the showers themselves still require a lot of patience, even though you can be usually be sure of a bit more action than usual.

[Rainingstar (Lorraine)]

Thanks Jacquie,
I thought that may have been the case, but was never quite sure. You certainly do need a lot of patience, but the buzz of seeing one seems to make up for it. I know when I'm just about ready to give up and go to bed if I see another one then I just have to keep watching in case another one comes and so it goes on.
Lorraine

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Hey Jackquie
Great to see you are still out watching meteor showers, its one of my Favourite pass times. Woke up in the early hrs this morning and went ouside to look at a few Taurids. Unfortunatly i have not managed to see 1 yet !
I will certainly be out for the leonids this year, could even be a few breif "Storm" periods.