taurids meteor shower

Fireball meteor shower set to linger in Toronto area skies

Toronto-area skies are about to be blessed with meteor shower that's a bit different than the others. The North Taurids meteors are expected to peak this weekend, offering the chance to see a few fireballs streaking across the sky.

Here's why you should have the Taurids on your radar. Although this is a low frequency shower — roughly five shooting stars will appear each hour during the peak — the meteors that are visible tend to be eye-popping thanks to the size of debris left by the Comet Encke.

Perhaps better still, because the peak is minimal, you can't miss the North Taurids on account of one night of clouds. The shower is expected to yield shooting stars — some of which will be fireballs — throughout the duration of November.

In other words, while you'll have to wait a while if you're staring at the sky looking for these meteors, you'll have numerous days to do so — and the reward could be big. So keep an eye out.

As with all meteor showers, the North Taurids are named after the constellation from which they appear to derive, in this case Taurus. Look for this constellation in the hours around midnight for your best chance of catching the celestial show.

You'll want to get somewhere very dark to witness the North Taurids, but that's the only requirement. So if you have a late fall getaway planned, make sure to slip in some time for stargazing.

Lead photo by

Mike Lewinski


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in City

Here's a preview of what it will be like to ride on new Toronto LRT line

There's a brand-new $26M TTC subway station entrance in a popular Toronto park

Ontario's largest snake grows up to 2 metres and squeezes prey to death

Ontario is home to world's oldest pool of water at a staggering 2 billion years old

Stunning new Toronto park set to open next year

Toronto somehow isn't home to Ontario's jankiest LRT

A Toronto transit project is actually going to finish early for once

People worried about Ontario police's plan to use facial recognition software