Taurid & Leonid Meteor Showers Glow Night Skies All Through November Cubs, as we celebrate the festival of lights on Earth the space also seems to be in festive mood and we would be seeing glowing and dazzling night skies all through November. So, all you stargazers be on a look out for Taurid and Leonid meteor showers all through this month. A meteor is a space rock or meteoroid that enters Earth's atmosphere. As the space rock falls towards Earth at an extremely high speed, meteoroids heat up due to the friction from the air. This heat causes gases around the meteoroid to glow brightly resulting in the formation of meteors that light up the sky which are also known as the shooting stars. These meteoroids are usually small dust particles and burn up in the atmosphere itself with little chance of any of them striking the Earth's surface. When Earth encounters many meteoroids at once, it is called a meteor shower. Taurid Meteor Showers Every year from September to November the Earth passes through a broad stream of debris left by comet Encke. The dust associated with the comet hit the Earth's atmosphere at 65,000 mph and burns up, creating the Taurid meteor showers. Taurid meteors can be seen anytime the constellation Taurus is above the horizon during the month of September, October and November. According to the American Meteor Society (AMS) the southern and northern Taurid meteor showers are currently active. Southern showers started September 10th and are likely to and continue till November 20th whereas the Northern showers began on October 20 and would continue to shimmer the night skies till December 10th. It will peak on November 11-12, 2020 night as the moon would be 15% full.
Leonid Meteor Showers The Leonids are bright meteors and can be colourful too. The Leonids are spawned by comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every 33 years, it rounds the Sun and then goes back to the outer solar system. On each passage across Earth's orbit, the comet lays down another trail of debris, each in a slightly different location than previous one. Each time, Earth passes through different streams of debris, it creates a burst of activity and light up the night sky. According to AMS, Leonid Meteor shower began on November 6, 2020 and will continue to light up the night skies till November 30th. It would peak on November 16-17, 2020 night as the moon would be only 5% full, Cubs, since Taurid and Leonid both showers are happening at the same time this would be a lifetime experience for all you stargazers to enjoy the view of dazzling and shimmering night skies. Inquisitive Cubs contains the News Savannah segment which features national, international and sports news focusing on Curated content in kids friendly language and age appropriate colourful images. Kids news Articles not merely report the happenings around the world but also explain the context of the news and its impact.