It’s a great target for the novice telescope owner as well because it’s just so easy to find stars and star clusters.

It’s also a good week for watching the Orionids meteor shower visible across Australia. Although it reached its peak on October 21, there is usually plenty to see a few days before and a few days after the forecast peak.

It’s predicted to run until November 7.

Generally, this is a good shower for beginners with estimates of around 30 meteors per hour.

As with all showers, the best time for viewing will be from around midnight until an hour before sunrise.

The shower is centred around the constellation Orion.

From any Aussie backyard just look for the familiar shape of the ‘Saucepan’ and watch below the three stars that make up the bottom of the pan.

Be patient and give it time ... OK?

It’ll happen when you least expect it.

Now, just to spice things up a little, there’s a second lesser-known shower happening afterwards.

The Taurids are a long-duration meteor shower visible throughout spring and peaking during the first week of November.

They have been described as being bright, slow moving and with the occasional colourful fireball.

So, what exactly are meteor showers?

Well, they’re basically the tail ends of comets.

As comets orbit the Sun, they shed an icy, dusty debris stream along the comet’s orbit.

If earth travels through this stream, we see a meteor shower.

Meteor showers are named by the constellation from which meteors appear to fall.

They’re called ‘shooting stars’ but stars don’t fall out of the sky, they’re simply small bits of iron rock.

Has anyone ever been hit by a meteorite? You bet!

In 1954, an Alabama housewife was sleeping on her couch when a small meteor that crashed through the roof struck her on the hip.

Enjoy the Orionids. They love dark skies so don’t forget to keep your camera handy if they happen.