Meteor shower
Orionids
Good from New Zealand
Halley's Comet's second pass of the year. Fast meteors radiating from near Orion's raised arm, best after midnight.
Computed from standard astronomical algorithms · Shower parameters: IMO working list of visual meteor showers · Reviewed Oct 2026 · Method
From New Zealand
Orion is a familiar sight from New Zealand — upside down compared with northern charts — and at +16° the radiant climbs high enough after midnight for decent rates. The second of Halley's two annual showers, so the same fast meteors as the Eta Aquariids.
How much the Moon will spoil it
A bright Moon washes out everything but the brightest meteors, and it is the difference between a good night and a wasted one more often than cloud is. Computed for the peak:
| Year | Moon at peak | Phase | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 76% lit | Waxing gibbous | Badly moonlit |
| 2027 | 64% lit | Waning gibbous | Some moonlight |
How to watch
Get away from town lights, give your eyes 20 minutes to adapt, and do not look at your phone. Lie back and take in as much sky as you can rather than staring at the radiant — meteors near the radiant are foreshortened and look shorter than they are.
The quoted 20 per hour is a zenithal hourly rate: what a single observer would count under a perfect dark sky with the radiant directly overhead. Nobody ever sees that. A realistic dark-sky count from New Zealand is a fraction of it, and from a suburb, a fraction of that. Dark sky notes apply here too.