Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 July 4, 1956
- 2 What is a meteor?
- 3 Some historical notes
- 4 Small rocks and dust in space
- 5 Observing meteors
- 6 Recording meteors
- 7 A New Year gift: the Quadrantids
- 8 The Lyrids – an April shower
- 9 The Eta Aquarids
- 10 The Omicron Draconids, continued
- 11 The Delta Aquarids
- 12 Tears of St. Lawrence: Perseid trails and trials
- 13 The August Pavonids
- 14 The Orionids
- 15 The Taurids
- 16 The Leonids
- 17 The Geminids
- 18 The Ursids
- 19 A catalog of meteor showers throughout the year
- Appendix
- Index
15 - The Taurids
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 July 4, 1956
- 2 What is a meteor?
- 3 Some historical notes
- 4 Small rocks and dust in space
- 5 Observing meteors
- 6 Recording meteors
- 7 A New Year gift: the Quadrantids
- 8 The Lyrids – an April shower
- 9 The Eta Aquarids
- 10 The Omicron Draconids, continued
- 11 The Delta Aquarids
- 12 Tears of St. Lawrence: Perseid trails and trials
- 13 The August Pavonids
- 14 The Orionids
- 15 The Taurids
- 16 The Leonids
- 17 The Geminids
- 18 The Ursids
- 19 A catalog of meteor showers throughout the year
- Appendix
- Index
Summary
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven …
I see thy glory like a shooting star
Fall from the base earth from the firmament!
My first good memory of the Taurids was in the fall of 1961, with Mrs. Beardsley on Oakland Avenue in Westmount, our Montreal suburb. Her son, Tony, went to school with me, and when Tony learned of my interest in astronomy, he invited me, and some members of our new astronomy club, to meet her. I was so impressed with her enthusiasm. I had no idea at the time that her family was very much involved in the Stellafane community, where amateur telescope making got its start in the 1920s, and how well known in astronomy she was.
On that first evening she told us about about the Orionid meteors and Halley's Comet, and how to observe them. Two weeks later, after some cloudy nights, she met with us again. Not giving up on the clouds, she now told us about the Taurid meteors. It turned out that the fall of 1961 and the winter of 1962 were particularly cloudy, especially on our club's Friday meeting nights, so we didn't get much meteor observing done. So my sharpest memory of the Taurids had to wait until the 1980s, particularly on the night of November 3, 1988. I was walking peacefully on William Carey Street near my home when suddenly a bolide appeared near the radiant point in Taurus.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- David Levy's Guide to Observing Meteor Showers , pp. 86 - 89Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007