Only the brightest of meteors may be spotted in this year's edition of the famous Geminids.
The shower of shooting stars, which is set to peak on Sunday night, coincides with a particularly bright moon, which will block the view of dimmer meteors.
Meteor showers are best viewed in the early hours of the morning, from 1 or 2am until dawn, according to Auckland's Stardome Observatory Planetarium.
The name Geminid comes from the constellation Gemini, Latin for 'twins', where they appear to originate.
"Globally, the Geminids are the most active shower peaking at around 100 meteors per hour," said Stardome.
But as Gemini is in New Zealand's northern sky, "we will miss out on half of them".
Despite the brightness of the moon, Stardome encourages people to find a dark spot, grab a blanket, check the weather and keep an eye of for meteors.
In 2020 the moon is expected to stay "conveniently" out of the picture.
