CHRISTMAS Eve is now just a day away, and if your little ones are so excited they refuse to go to bed tomorrow night I might be able to help.

On Christmas Eve the International Space Station will be visible in the sky above the UK. So you could...if you wanted...wrap those little ones up warmly, take them out into garden around 5.15pm, make them face the west and tell them to wait.

After a few minutes a bright 'star' will start to climb up from the horizon, steadily getting brighter, tracing out a curving path to the east. You could...again, if you wanted to...tell your little ones as it crosses the sky: "Look...that's Santa setting off...!" Imagine the looks on their faces.

Happy Christmas to all Westmorland Gazette readers from myself and everyone at the Eddington Astronomical Society.