Best times to see the Taurid meteor shower

An astronomical phenomenon could grace the night sky with its presence for Election Day.

The Taurid meteor shower could be visible starting around midnight on Tuesday, according to the American Meteorological Society.

Every year from September to November, the Earth passes through a broad stream of debris left by comets. When the dust from the comet hits Earth's atmosphere at 65,000 mph, it burns up and creates a meteor shower, according to NASA.

The Taurid meteor shower originates from the Comet Encke, which is one of the biggest comets in the solar system, Bill Cooke, lead of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office, told ABC News. Encke itself is just a fragment of a comet that broke up about 10,000 years ago and produced several smaller objects, he added.

The meteor shower has two branches: the Northern Taurids and Southern Taurids.

The Southern Taurids is the first branch that reaches Earth's atmosphere. It became active this year on Sept. 23, and it's expected to last until Dec. 8.

Visibility for the Southern Taurids is expected to be the best on Monday and Tuesday, because the moon will only be 11% full -- just as the meteor display is expected to be peaking, according to the AMS.

Maximum activity for the Northern Taurids will follow about a week later. The Northern Taurids are forecast to peak on Nov. 11 and Nov. 12. However, the moon will be about 79% full, which will drown out visibility, according to the AMS.

The Northern Taurids became active on Oct. 13 and are expected to last until Dec. 2.

Both branches of Taurids are rich in fireballs and often lead to an increased number of fireball reports from September through November, according to the AMS.

A "swarm" of fireballs can occur when the Earth runs into a group of pebble-sized fragments from the comet, according to NASA.

The next swarm is expected to occur in November 2025, Cooke said.

"What makes them so special is the Taurids are big," Cooke said. "They're big pieces of debris, and they produce these very spectacular fireballs."

Taurids appear to originate from the constellation Taurus, Cooke said.

Midnight is typically the best time to see them, because the Taurus constellation is high in the sky at the time, Cooke said.

Although, he added: "You don't want to look at Taurus, because the meteors coming from there will have short trains and be faint."

That aside, the Taurids are visible from almost everywhere on Earth -- other than the South Pole.

The best way to see them is to get as far away from light pollution as possible and look straight up while lying flat on your back, Cooke said. The meteors will appear all over the night sky.

Patience is key when searching for shooting stars, Shawn Dahl, a coordinator for NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, told ABC News.

"Sometimes taking the time to gaze up at the sky for a few hours, hoping to see them" is the best plan, Dahl said.

Although the Taurids are considered to be a long-lasting meteor shower, they rarely produce more than five shower members per hour, even at maximum activity, according to NASA.

"Most years the shower is weak, and only a few Taurid meteors can be seen each night," according to NASA. "Other years, the Taurids can put on a show."

The Taurids are one of only two meteor showers -- the other being Geminids -- that can produce meteorites, Cooke said.

"We call a meteor a shooting star," he explained. "If anything makes it to the ground, it's called a meteorite."

Most meteors burn up before they are able to enter the atmosphere, Cooke said, but the Taurids linger because they are moving relatively slowly when they enter the atmosphere.

The Taurids are part of a consortium of spectacular astronomical events in recent months.

The Orionids meteor shower occurred last month, and T Coronae Borealis, also known as the "Blaze Star," is expected to explode violently in the near future.

The Geminids, which can sometimes produce up to 100 meteors per hour, will occur in mid-December.

"If you look for the sky over the course of an hour during that meteor shower's peak, that is a good opportunity to definitely see at least a nice, streaking, fast meteor," Dahl said of the Geminids.

In addition, the current solar cycle is about to hit its peak, which could result in more frequent and farther-reaching Northern Lights activity.