Spectacular Taurid meteor shower to soar above UK as Earth ploughs through comet debris

Meteor showers are created when the Earth passes through debris left behind by passing comets, like dust and gas. When this debris falls into the Earth’s atmosphere, its burns up to form a shooting star or meteor.

In Taurid’s case, “the Earth ploughing through debris left behind by Comet Encke”, according to Royal Museums Greenwich. The comet stream is very spread out and dispersed, which is why it takes the Earth a relatively long time to pass through.

This also explains why we see two separate segments of the shower: the South Taurids (10 September – 20 November) and the North Taurids (20 October – 10 December).

Since the North and South Taurids are two fragments of the same debris cloud and they are similar in density, so the peaks are about the same.

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1695192/space-news-spectacular-taurid-meteor-shower-when-earth-ploughs-comet-debris