AS I WRITE this things aren't looking good for Comet Ison. A very promising surge in its brightness last weekend, which we hoped was a sign of it really coming to life after being disappointingly quiet for months, might actually have been the comet splitting into pieces or disintegrating altogether.

If Ison has fallen apart we won't get to see a bright naked eye comet in the sky next week, as we had been looking forward to. But the situation is unclear, so it might still be worth a look.

So, go out about an hour before sunrise on any clear morning after November 30, look east, and you might see Comet Ison there, hanging above the treetops, looking like a short vapour trail pointing almost straight up from the horizon with a star-like head. If you do, binoculars will show detail in its tail, like streamers, knots and tendrils.

Of course, if Ison has fallen to bits you'll see nothing. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best...

Stuart Atkinson