Meteor showers from New Zealand
Most meteor-shower guides are written for the northern hemisphere and do not say so. The Perseids — the most-searched shower in the world — cannot be seen from New Zealand at all. This list is sorted by how good each shower actually is from here.
Computed from standard astronomical algorithms · Reviewed Oct 2026 · Method
Eta Aquariids
Debris from Halley's Comet, and the southern hemisphere's showpiece shower. Best in the two or three hours before dawn.
Good from New ZealandSouthern Delta Aquariids
A long, gentle shower of faint meteors that favours southern observers, overlapping the start of the Perseid period.
Good from New ZealandOrionids
Halley's Comet's second pass of the year. Fast meteors radiating from near Orion's raised arm, best after midnight.
Good from New ZealandGeminids
The year's richest shower, and an oddity: its parent is a rocky asteroid, not a comet. Slow, bright, often yellow.
Fair from New ZealandLeonids
Usually modest, occasionally historic. The 1833 and 1966 Leonid storms produced thousands of meteors an hour.
Poor from New ZealandQuadrantids
A brief, sharp northern-hemisphere shower with one of the highest peak rates of the year — and one of the shortest peaks, only a few hours wide.
Poor from New ZealandLyrids
The oldest recorded shower, with observations going back 2,700 years. Modest but reliable, and occasionally throws a surprise outburst.
Not visible from New ZealandPerseids
The northern hemisphere's summer showpiece — and a shower New Zealand simply cannot see.
Not visible from New ZealandUrsids
A minor shower close to the December solstice, confined to the far northern sky.
Why the hemisphere matters
A shower appears to come from one point in the sky, the radiant. If that point is below your horizon, you see nothing — no amount of dark sky or patience changes it. Radiants north of about +40° declination never rise from New Zealand, which rules out the Perseids and the Ursids outright and badly hurts the Quadrantids and Lyrids.
It cuts the other way too. The Eta Aquariids are a modest shower from Europe and a superb one from here, because the radiant climbs high in our pre-dawn sky. They are the best meteors of the New Zealand year and they get a fraction of the attention the Perseids do.