The best meteor shower of the year passed close to earth this morning, but unfortunately New Zealanders were not able to see it.

The top spot to view the 500-year-old Leonid meteor shower was from Mongolia.

Auckland Stardome astronomer Grant Christie says the best visibility would be at the peak of the shower which experts have predicted based on computer modeling and many years of mapping.

"They were predicting the peak would occur at about 9.30am-9.45am our time but unfortunately that's daytime which means we can't see the meteors."

Dr Christie says meteor showers originate from materials shed by comets.