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 Information about what’s happening and what you can see in the night sky. Star charts reproduce the New Zealand evening night sky from latitude 40 degrees south.
Charts for the morning night sky can be found on the Taatai Arorangi page and this month's specific charts are linked below. All dates and times given are New Zealand Standard Time and, when applicable, adjusted for Daylight Saving. Rise and set times of the Sun, Moon and planets are for Wellington and may vary throughout the country by several minutes.
Click on the links below for information about each item
MATARIKI & THE MAORI NEW YEAR
In early June Matariki, the Pleiades
star cluster, will reappear in the north-eastern dawn twilight. This was the herald of the Maori
new-year. In pre-European times the year
began at the full-moon following the new moon following the sighting of
Matariki. This year this occurs on June 23rd. In later times, due to the influence of
Europeans, the new-year was moved to the sighting of the new-moon following the
sighting of Matariki, which this year occurs on or after June 10th.
The Pleiades is a cluster of
about 400 stars located 380 light-years away.
(Photo by John Drummond)
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