![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a-meteor-as-photographed-by-stardome-source-stardome-KMBUDCBJ3VDNZBLZH73XFED7RY.jpg\")
<\/p>\nKeen stargazers are in for a celestial treat this evening, with a dazzling meteor shower set to light up New Zealand’s night skies. <\/p>\n
The annual Orionids meteor shower is expected to peak overnight tonight, as Earth passes through a trail of dust left behind by Halley’s Comet. <\/p>\n
Under clear skies and optimal viewing conditions, stargazers could see between 10 and 20 meteors per hour. <\/p>\n
Stardome astronomer Josh Aoraki said the shower occurred around the same time each year as Earth continued its orbit around the sun.<\/p>\n
“Those particles fall into the atmosphere, and we get more meteors than usual, essentially. So that’s where the meteor shower comes from,” he said. <\/p>\n
Aoraki said spotting the spectacle could be slightly trickier this year due to the bright Moon, which would make fainter meteors harder to see. <\/p>\n
The best viewing window would be from about 3am until sunrise, once the moon had set. <\/p>\n
“The best places [to watch] are going to be anywhere that’s a really dark location,” he said<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A meteor as photographed by Stardome. Source: Stardome (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
“Once the Moon has set, that’s going to be the best time.” <\/p>\n
Aoraki said those hoping to catch a glimpse of the celestial display should head somewhere away from city lights, with a clear, unobstructed view of the sky.<\/p>\n
The meteors would appear to originate from the direction of the Orion constellation in the northeastern sky, but could streak across any part of the sky. <\/p>\n
According to NASA, the Orionids were among the fastest meteors, travelling at speeds of around 66km per second as they entered Earth’s atmosphere.<\/p>\n
The fast-moving meteors could leave glowing trails in their wake, remaining visible for several seconds or even minutes.<\/p>\n
Halley’s Comet, which was responsible for the annual spectacle, last passed through the inner solar system in 1986 and was not expected to return until 2061.<\/p>\n
Aoraki said no special equipment was needed to enjoy tonight’s display. <\/p>\n
“That’s the very best about meteor showers. You really just need a dark sky and your eyes,” he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keen stargazers are in for a celestial treat this evening, with a dazzling meteor shower set to light…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-636551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}