WATCH: A Cosmic Display Of Shooting Stars will Light Up the Night Skies / 4 Meteor Showers

There are four meteor showers this month. The Southern Taurids, the Northern Taurids, the Leonids and the November Orionids. The South Taurids should produce their greatest number of meteors shortly after midnight on November 5. The meteoroid streams that feed the South (and North) Taurids are very spread out and diffuse. The Taurids are well known for having a high percentage of fireballs, or exceptionally bright meteors. Late night November 11 until dawn November 12, 2016, the North Taurids. The slow bright Taurids are visible before midnight for a week centered on November 12. The Leonids produced meteor storms of hundreds to thousands of meteors per hour at the peak each year from 1998 to 2002. This year they'll be visible at their regular rates, perhaps 10 per hour. The November 17 Leonid peak falls just a few days after the full moon, obscuring all but the brightest of these swift meteors. The Orionids peak on November 28th. The constellation Orion is familiar to most skywatchers. The radiant is near Orion's head.