• This first weekend of November, 2012, offers a meteor shower, although moonlight will interfere. The South Taurid meteors are expected to be at their best late night on Sunday, November 4 and after midnight on Monday, November 5. But we've already been hearing from

people who say they've seen meteors, or shooting stars, streaking along in dark skies. Watch for them if you're outside.
• The other Taurid shower - the North Taurids - should add a few more meteors to the mix. The forecast calls for the North Taurid shower to be raining down the most meteors a week from now, in the second weekend of November 2012. The moon will be thinner in phase then, adding less light to the sky.
• As a general rule, the Taurid showers do not exhibit strong peaks. The two Taurid showers tend to overlap and to plateau in activity during the first few weeks in November. On any given night, these rather slow-moving meteors produce the greatest numbers in the few hours after midnight, perhaps up to 10 meteors per hour. Although a modest shower, the Taurids can surprise you with a flamboyant fireball or two!
• The radiant points for these two November meteor showers - the South Taurids and North Taurids - are both in the constellation Taurus the Bull. If you trace the paths of shower meteors backward, you'll find the meteors appear to radiate from a distinct point in the starry sky. As can be expected, the radiant point for the South Taurids is found in southern Taurus, while that of the North Taurids is found in northern Taurus.
• Taurus the Bull - the Taurid showers' radiant point - climbs upward during the

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