Copyright bbc
The Taurid meteor shower is made up of two streams - the Southern and Northern Taurids. It is caused by the debris - ice and dust - from Comet Encke as it passes through our solar system. Each time Encke returns to the inner solar system, it sheds ice and rock into space. When Earth passes through this debris the "comet crumbs" heat up as they enter our atmosphere and burn up in bright bursts of light. Taurid meteors tend to be larger than other meteors and can survive for longer periods as they pass through Earth's atmosphere. They also travel rather slowly, crossing the sky at about 17 miles per second. It's thought that Comet Encke might have has such a large debris stream because it was once part of a larger comet that broke up around 20,000 years ago. It has the shortest orbital period of any known comet within our solar system, taking just over 3 years to orbit the Sun.
