  Taurid meteor shower produces prolonged but usually low activity every
October and November. In some years, however, the activity is significantly
enhanced. Previous studies based on long-term activity statistics concluded
that the enhancement is caused by a swarm of meteoroids locked in 7:2 resonance
with Jupiter. Here we present precise data on 144 Taurid fireballs observed by
new digital cameras of the European Fireball Network in the enhanced activity
year 2015. Orbits of 113 fireballs show common characteristics and form
together a well defined orbital structure, which we call new branch. We found
that this branch is characterized by longitudes of perihelia lying between
155.9-160o and latitudes of perihelia between 4.2-5.7o. Semimajor axes are
between 2.23-2.28 AU and indeed overlap with the 7:2 resonance. Eccentricities
are in wide range 0.80-0.90. The orbits form a concentric ring in the inner
solar system. The masses of the observed meteoroids were in a wide range from
0.1 g to more than 1000 kg. We found that all meteoroids larger than 300 g were
very fragile, while those smaller than 30 g were much more compact. Based on
orbital characteristics, we argue that asteroids 2015 TX24 and 2005 UR, both of
diameters 200-300 meters, are direct members of the new branch. It is therefore
very likely that the new branch contains also numerous still not discovered
objects of decameter or even larger size. Since asteroids of sizes of tens to
hundreds meters pose a treat to the ground even if they are intrinsically weak,
impact hazard increases significantly when the Earth encounters the Taurid new
branch every few years. Further studies leading to better description of this
real source of potentially hazardous objects, which can be large enough to
cause significant regional or even continental damage on the Earth, are
therefore extremely important.
