Short answer: Taurids South and maybe Taurids North.
On Saturday night, the Montebello crowd noticed an unusually high
number of very bright, very long-lasting meteors. Some fireballs, some
with persistent trails.
Also again on Sunday night, I was observing with a group that noticed
the same thing. I didn't record any times, but we did start
speculating about a shower, and so we slowly started (collectively) to
notice a radiant trend. At one point, I half-jokingly suggested they
came from Mars, but then one went zinging by Mars, ending that
hypothesis (or maybe it was a sporadic. ;-)
According to Guy Ottewell's Astronomical Calendar, this might be a "A
good year for the Taurids." The South group nominally peaks on Nov.
5, while the North group nominally peaks on Nov. 12, but both groups
are said to be "Active Oct 1 - Nov 25."
These showers are associated with Comet 2P/Encke.
Bob J.
--- JamesAdamsLh@No-Spam wrote:
> Mike,
>
> I was out looking at Mars about 9 or 0:30 PM and saw a great fireball
> headed
> roughly east to west. It cast shadows and lasted several seconds. I
> was
> observing in La Honda.
>
> I saw quite a few good meteors, many emanating from Taurus. Is there
> a
> recognized shower?
>
> James Adams
>
Received on Mon Oct 31 08:13:02 2005