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Comet Neat Q4 2003

Go here to look at the Parihaka Marae Comet O'Rongomai 1882
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Te Hapua-o-Rongomai
An old name at the mouth of the Owhiro Stream (8, Pt.5, p.5), at Owhiro Bay.
This can be no other than the ponded mouth of the Owhiro Stream dammed just before it enters the sea by the wave-built shingle beach-ridge. The name means ‘the pool of Rongomai.’ Best refers to this spot in his Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori (9,p.55): ‘At Owhiro, near Island Bay, is a place named Te Hapua-o-Rongomai where that atua [supernatural being — Rongomai was the personification of a comet or of a meteor], is said to have descended to earth in past times.’

Kia mahaki ra ano te kauae o Poua, katahi ka riro ai te whenua -
when the jaw-bone of Poua becomes loose, then only will the land be lost, or pass into other hands

Rakiura Music

comet Halley 1985
comet Halley 1986

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whiro, a moonless night
the first day of the maori lunar month

The term whetu (star) is often applied to comets by the Maori, but he has a number of other names by which he designates them, such as the following:—

Auahi-roa. Auahi-turoa. Auroa. (Colenso.) Manu-i-te-ra. (Stowell.) Meto. Puaroa. Puihiihi-rere. (Stowell.) Purereahu. (Stowell.) Rongomai? Tunui-a-te-ika? Taketake-hikuroa.
Upoko-roa. Wahieroa. Whetu-kaupo. It is quite likely that the name of Tiramaroa is also applied to a comet. This Tiramaroa was described by a native as having long puhihi (rays), which are sometimes directed upwards and sometimes downwards. This looks somewhat like the tail of a comet. It is said to have been seen during the siege of Te Tapiri, in 1865, and again about the time of the Tarawera eruption (1886). Evidently it is neither star nor meteor. Auahi-roa and Auahi-turoa are common names for a comet (auahi = smoke; roa = long).

reference: Title: The Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori, Genuine and Empirical - Author: Elsdon Best - Dominion Museum, Wellington

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NASA image of the ISS over Aotearoa (New Zealand)
S116-E-05983 (12 Dec. 2006) New Zealand and Cook Strait in the Pacific Ocean, Cook Strait divides New Zealand's North and South Islands.

http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-116/html/s116e05983.html

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