--- title: "This Halloween, the Taurid Meteor Shower may unleash a flurry of fireballs." description: "This year's annual Taurid meteor shower, also referred to as the Halloween fireballs, might actually be a Taurid swarm." author: "Muskan Singh" published: 2022-10-31 canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/news/2259/this-halloween-the-taurid-meteor-shower-may-unleash-a-flurry-of-fireballs category: "space and research" tags: ["technology", "technology news", "space science", "research"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # This Halloween, the Taurid Meteor Shower may unleash a flurry of fireballs. Every three to seven years, the Taurid shower is more active than usual, according to spaceweather.com. Since the last Taurid swarm occurred in 2015, 2022 is a strong possibility to see an [increase](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/12959/are-you-struggling-to-increase-the-profit-of-your-liquor-store) in the number of meteors that fall to Earth. The annual [**Taurid meteor shower,**](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2235/largest-meteor-hits-on-the-red-planet-are-discovered-by-two-martian-spacecraft) which peaks in mid- to late-October, is visible between September 10 and November 20. The peak meteor [activity](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/12894/how-to-force-recreation-of-activity-fragment-on-restore) for 2022 is scheduled for November 5. **The meteors appear to be coming from the Taurus constellation, therefore the name of the meteor shower.** According to Mark Gallaway, an astronomer and science educator at the Bayfordbury Observatory of the [University](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/188407/the-north-south-divide-university-cost-comparison) of Hertfordshire, meteors are often made up of tiny dust and grit particles that are circling the sun. **They heat up due to friction as they hit the Earth's [atmosphere](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2058/robin-wordsworth-re-creates-the-atmosphere-of-ancient-mars) at usual velocities of 44 miles per second.** Gallaway continued, '**They also heat the [environment](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/308/need-to-create-a-supportive-work-environment-for-women) to the point where the path they travel glows.' As the meteor breaks up between 30 and 59 miles in the air, you can see this brilliance. A bright meteor [known as](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/35703/ricky-ponting-is-also-known-as-what) a fireball will be produced by larger objects, perhaps ones the size of a pebble.** The meteors from the two overlapping Taurid showers come from two distinct sources. The southern Taurids are caused by a comet called Encke, according to astronomer Sara Webb of Swinburne University of [Technology](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/13005/the-functional-aspects-of-laser-technology) in Melbourne, Australia. The **northern Taurids are caused by the remains of an asteroid called 2004 TG, which we believe may have broken off Encke at some point.** According to Christopher J. Conselice, a professor of [**extragalactic astronomy**](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2218/russian-spacecraft-carrying-goods-is-directed-at-the-international-space-station) at the University of Manchester in England, the Earth's orbit crosses that of the debris left over from the destruction of the **comet Encke material that is gravitationally removed by interactions with other objects in [our solar system](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/35770/which-is-the-second-largest-moon-in-our-solar-system) between late October and December every year.** --- Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/news/2259/this-halloween-the-taurid-meteor-shower-may-unleash-a-flurry-of-fireballs Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.