June 21, 2024
Planetarium fills for Matariki
![Watermark](/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/logo-4.png)
![](https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/mntBLOCKSTORAGEhomemasternews_importersrcStardome-Facebook-2.jpg_1_Pub.jpg)
A Māori astrophotographer says the focus on Matariki is encouraging a lot of Māori to take more interest in astrongomy.
Josh Aoraki, who works as an educator at Auckland’s Stardone Observatory, says evening sessions at the observatry are selli,g out as whanau come to learn more about the heavens and the meanings of the various stas withn the Matariki cluster,
He says while they’re still quite dim, the constellaton can be seen above the eastern horison from about 6am until sunrise.
“The best thing to find Matariki, because it’s not an overly-bright star cluster, there are three stars in a row we call Tautoru, that’s also known as Orion’s Belt, so if you look directly east you are going to see these three stars in a row and if you follow those stars going left you are going to see a little star cluster and that is Matariki,” Mr Aoraki says.
He’s waiting another week or so before trying to take a read of the stars to predict what can be expected in the week ahead – but in the meantime he’s plannng a feast with whanau and friends.