Is there a meteor shower worth watching from Sydney tonight?
Skip tonight
The Orionids are active but tonight is 17 days after peak, so rates stay well below the headline ZHR of 20.
Local observing window
No usable window tonight
Weather-adjusted rate
~0 meteors/hr
Moon interference
None · 5% lit · during tonight's dark hours
Rates are estimates, not guaranteed counts. ~0/hr does not rule out an occasional meteor; the clear-sky estimate and ideal peak rate are separate below.
Sydney city reference, not the whole metropolitan area. Calculated 7 Nov, 14:05 local.
Calculation details, times & sources
City reference: -33.86785°, 151.20732° · Australia/Sydney. This is one position, not a forecast for the entire metropolitan area.
Current local time: 7 Nov, 14:05 · not astronomically dark.
Calculated for local · 2026-11-07T03:05:00.000Z.
Weather basis: Live forecast in use · coverage through 16 Nov, 23:00.
Meteor shower tonight · Sydney
Orionids are active, but conditions say skip
The Orionids are active but tonight is 17 days after peak, so rates stay well below the headline ZHR of 20. Tonight is 17 days after the Orionids peak.
VerdictSkip tonight
Shower activity
Orionids · active in tonight's model
Best local window
No usable window tonight
Ideal peak rate (ZHR)
20 meteors/hr at peak, under ideal conditions
Estimated rate (weather-adjusted)
~0 meteors/hr tonight
Local clear-sky estimate
—
Radiant direction (supporting data)
Northeast · radiant 18° high
Cloud cover (supporting data)
26% averaged over tonight's dark hours
Moon interference
None · 5% lit · during tonight's dark hours
Astronomical darkness
Reached tonight
ZHR describes the shower's ideal peak, not tonight's expected count. Local rates are modelled estimates, not measured or guaranteed counts. They account for distance from peak, radiant height, twilight and the Moon; the weather-adjusted estimate also includes forecast cloud. The clear-sky estimate removes cloud, not the other limits. The model assumes a fixed, moderately dark sky: city light pollution can cut what you see well below these figures, while a truly dark site can do better. A rounded estimate of ~0/hr does not rule out an occasional meteor. When no cloud forecast is available, cloud attenuation is not included.
Next better opportunity: the Leonids, peaking November 17 (10 days away) at ZHR 15.
Local darkness boundaries
Astronomical darkness begins
7 Nov, 21:02
Astronomical darkness ends
8 Nov, 04:15
The existing meteor model is reused without changing its assumptions. It does not measure exact local light pollution, air quality or obstructions; rate estimates are not guaranteed observed counts.
Rounded clear-sky rate: ~0/hr; weather-adjusted rate: ~0/hr. No usable window is recommended. Any radiant direction or cloud sample above is supporting geometry from the sampled dark hours, not an instruction to observe at that time.
Meteor watching from Sydney: what is local
Southern sky favours different showers
At 33.9° S, Sydney sees showers with southern or equatorial radiants well — the Eta Aquariids in May and the Geminids in December climb usefully high — while the Perseid radiant, about 58° north of the celestial equator, never rises above the horizon at this latitude, so only occasional Perseids skim up from below it in August. The radiant height on this page is computed for Sydney, not copied from northern-hemisphere guides.
New South Wales uses daylight saving from the first Sunday in October to the first Sunday in April. Peak hours quoted in other sources in UTC or AEST can be an hour off in summer; this page uses the Sydney time in force on each date. City light means darker sites outside the Sydney basin show noticeably more meteors than the city reference.
Coordinates and IANA time zone: Open-Meteo geocoding / GeoNames, checked 25 October 2026. Local clocks follow the named time zone, including applicable clock changes.
Illustrative meteor image — not an observation from Sydney.
