There's good and bad news for stargazers hoping to watch the Orionids meteor shower.

The shower peaks this weekend, with the best viewing said to be around 2 in the morning.

President of the Winnipeg Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Brendan Petracek says the good news is there isn't a moon to contend with. The bad news is they're not expecting a ton of meteors.

"In general, the Orionids are not one to typically give us a massive, spectacular show."

The prediction is about 20-30 meteors will be visible per hour.

Regardless, Petracek says it's a good excuse to get out under the stars.

"Bring a chair that you can lay back in and look up with, bring a warm blanket, bring a lot of warm clothes, right? ... and I think the most important thing is bring some patience and a sense of wonderment of the night sky."

He says the meteors will be mostly eminating from the constellation Orion (hence, Orionids). He recommends getting out of the city lights for viewing.

Petracek says what's happening during the meteor shower is the earth is passing through the trail of Halley's Comet.