Rainy, dark clouds this afternoon, and pretty-much predicted for the immediate-near future, thus prohibiting us here on California’s north coast from checking out some shooting stars in the morning via the naked eyeball — only by some technological device.

This time, the ‘Orionids‘ are coming. The Orionid Meteor Shower, which could produce 25 meteors an hours between about midnight tonight and dawn on Tuesday, are actually pieces of Halley’s Comet moving twice as fast as a high-velocity bullet.
Slooh Astronomer Bob Berman (via Accuweather): “There’s no year better for the Orionids than this one.”
He also said for reasons still unknown, the Orionids have a history of putting on a better show than expected.

Except where it’s weather-wise impossible. NASA will host a webcast starting at 10 p.m. EDT (0200 Oct. 20 GMT) tonight. Also watch webcasts at Space.com, and Slooh.

(Illustration above found here).

As an insomniac, and since I’m nearly always awake during those peak-viewing, wee-morning hours, maybe I’ll make an effort to check it out — only, though, if by extreme-peradventure a hole opens in the storm clouds, as stars and moonbeam-slivers twinkle, maybe I could spy an orionid, or two.
Or not.