The moon is new on August 1, which means that this weekend it will be visible as a slim crescent low in the eastern sky before sunrise, writes Ian Griffin.
On Sunday, the moon rises just before 4am. It will be 23% illuminated and will lie directly between the star cluster Matariki and the orange star Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus the Bull.
Typically, I'd wax lyrical about the beauty of a crescent moon and its associated ghostly earthshine. However, this weekend, there's another reason to get up early.
That is because a meteor shower reaches peak activity. If the sky is clear, keen-eyed Otago stargazers might be able to see as many as 20 shooting stars every hour they spend stargazing.
No optical aid is needed to spot the meteors; the best views will be from dark spots well away from city lights. If you plan to head out, I would advise you to wrap up warm and to bring a comfortable deck-chair.
This meteor shower is called the Delta Aquarids by astronomers. That is because the meteors appear to radiate from the general direction of the star Delta in the constellation of Aquarius, the Water-bearer. As our chart shows, in the pre-dawn hours, the radiant point of the meteors is high in the northwestern sky.
Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet. In the case of this weekend's meteors, that comet is probably Comet Machholz, which was discovered by American amateur astronomer Donald Machholz in 1986.
This is a short-period comet which takes a little over five years to orbit the sun. When furthest from the sun, at aphelion, this comet is beyond the orbit of Jupiter. When closest to the sun, at perihelion, Comet Machholz passes well inside Mercury's orbit.
Meteors are tiny specks of cosmic dust, burning up high in the atmosphere. Sometimes meteors leave a luminous afterglow (astronomers call these ''trains'') which can persist for seconds or sometimes minutes. These can be incredibly beautiful, so definitely keep a careful eye out, and if you see one do let me know.
