Otago stargazers are in for a treat this weekend for the year's best meteor shower, says Ian Griffin.
I hope some readers enjoyed the wonderful displays of the aurora australis last weekend. I was delighted to get some lovely aurora pictures from Hoopers Inlet on three consecutive nights.
Aside from auroras, I have to confess to being pretty excited about events in the sky next weekend.
Not only is it the dark of the moon (our closest celestial neighbour reaches its new phase at 8.13am on Friday) but after midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Otago stargazers will have a front-row seat for what will be this year's best meteor shower.
With clear skies and from a site well away from city lights, it should be possible to see between 20 and 30 meteors every hour. Because they seem to radiate from a point close to the star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion, astronomers call this particular shower "The Orionids''.