Watch the 2012 Orionids Meteor Shower Tonight

Tonight the Orionid meteor shower peaks. So if you are in the mood for a spectacular show, go out tonight with your family and enjoy a spectacular show that only the universe could put on. After all, you won't be able to see these again until 2061.

The Orionids are fragments from Halley's comet, which won't be visible for another 20 years. However, we can see debris blown off of the comet by solar wind and higher temperatures as it approaches the sun.

You can expect quite the show. Tonight astronomers are expecting as many as 60 meteors an hour visible to the naked eye. That's one a minute. Just keep in mind, because the moon makes it difficult to see the shooting stars, you should probably go out after it sets.

These days we spend so much of our time starting at screens. Whether it be a laptop, desktop, smartphone, tablet or television, these are things that take us out of the moment and thrust us into a half-world of digital information. We fail to see the beauty that is around us daily. But tonight, weather permitting, we'll get to look up into the sky and see the wonder that is a meteor shower, one of the biggest we will see for a long time.

If the weather is too bad to see the stars directly, though, you can still take advantage of your own personal digital half-life to get a stream of the meteor shower here. The stream will be starting at 11 PM EDT.

If you have any interest in space at all, don't miss this opportunity to watch the Orionid meteor shower. While a meteor shower like this happens yearly, rarely is it so intense. You won't see its likes again for 50 years.

Photo by : Wikipedia / Brocken Inaglory