Thick clouds made it tough to see many "shooting stars" in our part of Texas on Saturday night but, following a Sunday cold front, clear skies made a huge difference last night, just in time for the annual peak of the Orionids.

At that time, the International Meteor Organization reported a maximum of nearly 30 meteors per hour.

The Orionid meteor shower happens due to earth traveling through a debris cloud left over from an ancient flight of Halley's Comet through our solar system.  Those leftovers are generally the size of a grain of sand, and they typically travel more than 100,000 mph into our atmosphere where they burn up.

In the above video, our own Burton Fitzsimmons shares some photos of this year's Orionids.