AS I write this all my various weather forecasting apps and TV weather reports are predicting some clear skies this week, but I'm not holding my breath because they're all about as accurate as horoscopes.

If we do get some clear nights it's worth staying up late and heading out because you might see some shooting stars.

We're getting close to the peak of the annual Orionid meteor shower, but there are already a few flying around, so if you're out late on a clear night this week keep an eye on the sky to the east and you might see some shooting stars zipping away from it.

The constellation of Orion the Hunter itself - with its famous and unique "belt" of three icy blue-white stars tugged tight around his waist - isn't visible until the early hours of the morning, but if you look to the east around midnight you will see some of the stars that make up the constellation of Taurus, the mighty bull that Orion is being attacked by.

Taurus is dominated by two star clusters.

The Pleiades is a very famous cluster, which looks like a thumbnail-sized knot of blue-white stars in the shape of a mini Big Dipper.

You might know it better as the "Seven Sisters", so called because its seven brightest stars are clearly visible to the naked eye.

Beneath and to the left of the Pleiades is a much larger "V" of stars lying on its left side, like a "greater than" mathematical symbol.

This is the Hyades star cluster, meant to represent the sharp horns of Taurus the Bull.

As far as planets go, Venus is a pretty "evening star", visible low in the south-west after sunset, and Jupiter and Saturn are still visible in the evening sky, a pair of bright naked eye stars visible low in the south as soon as darkness falls.