TAURID METEOR SHOWER SET TO PEAK OVER VANCOUVER ISLAND

The Taurid meteor shower is set to peak over Vancouver Island this week, with the Southern Taurids peaking on Wednesday, 5 November, and the Northern Taurids following around 11 and 12 November. A new moon approaching on 9 November should bring favourable viewing conditions if skies remain clear. Randy Enkin, past president of the Victoria Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, said the shower is not among the year's most active but has a distinctive feature. "The cool thing about the Taurids is that they're slow, and sometimes they're pebble-sized, not dust-sized, and so you get these big fireballs," he said.

The Taurids originate from debris left by Comet Encke, which orbits the sun every three-and-a-half years. As Earth passes through the comet's debris stream, particles burn up in the atmosphere, producing the streaks of light visible from the ground. Enkin recalled a memorable event in 1995, when an object estimated to be about a metre across lit up the night sky. Each shower can produce around five meteors an hour under ideal conditions, though Enkin said observers rarely see that many. "They say five meteors per hour, but nobody ever sees all of the meteors in those limits," he said.

Enkin recommends finding a dark location away from city lights, dressing warmly and getting comfortable to spot a meteor. He said the showers are best viewed around midnight or later, when their radiant point is highest in the sky. Cattle Point in Oak Bay, a designated urban dark-sky preserve, is named as a favourite spot for viewing in Greater Victoria. "A lot of our club sets up there because it is a great place," Enkin said.