Kiwi stargazers enjoy best meteor shower of 2017
The best meteor shower of the year reached its peak this weekend.
The Orionid meteor shower, so named because the shooting stars on display appear to come from the constellation Orion, was expected to be at its best from midnight through to sunrise on Saturday.
It would also be good viewing from midnight Saturday through to sunrise Sunday, however they were expected to be less frequent, fading away to nothing by the middle of next week.
The annual event occurs when the Earth ploughs through the trail of cosmic dust left behind by Halley’s Comet, which passes the planet every 74 to 79 years.
Dr Ian Griffin, a British astronomer who now works as the director of Otago Museum in Dunedin, said the meteor shower would be the best of the year.
The Orionid shower was always consistent, and this year was a particularly good time to view it because the Moon had just entered the new moon phase - making for darker skies. ‘‘Scientifically, watching meteors isn’t particularly valuable, but as someone who loves the night sky it’s one of the most basic pleasures you can have,’’ Griffin said.
‘‘When you see that flash of light in the sky that’s basically the death throes of material that’s been around since the solar system was formed, around 5 billion years ago.’’ Griffin said the meteors pieces of cosmic dust about the size of a grain of sand up to a pea would reach a peak of between 15-30 an hour, or around 1 every two minutes, early Saturday morning. The meteor shower could be seen anywhere in New Zealand, however he advised those looking for the best viewing experience to avoid bright city lights.
Griffin, a former head of public outreach for Nasa, said he remembered watching Halley’s Comet pass by Earth on its most recent flyby in 1986.
Its next scheduled pass was in 2061, but Griffin said he was reminded of the comet each year during the Orionid meteor shower. ‘‘It’s a good show,’’ he said. The astronomer, who has discovered a number of minor planets during his career, compared the path of the Earth through the cosmic dust that caused the meteor shower to crossing a river.
‘‘When you start out at the river bank where it’s shallow it’s relatively slow, but when you get to where it’s deepest it starts moving really quickly,’’ Griffin said.
Meteors from the shower were visible earlier in the week, but they were due to reach their peak early Saturday morning.
Metservice meteorologist John Law picked Canterbury, particularly inland parts of the region, as the best place in the country to watch the meteor shower.