I hope some of you have managed to see Venus blazing away low in the west after sunset recently. It's looked absolutely beautiful, like a finely-cut diamond glinting in the dusk sky, brighter than anything else in the heavens. It is actually going to get brighter as the next few weeks pass, so any clear night we get you must take a look.

Jupiter is still visible in the evening sky too, already high in the south at sunset. But it's past its best now, sinking into the western sky late in the evening.

If you want to see some more of the beautiful things visible in the winter sky, come along to Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre after 7pm on January 14; to support next week's BBC's Stargazing Live programmes we're holding a Skywatch at the Brewery, and weather permitting will be showing people stars, star clusters, stellar nurseries and much, much more. As usual, it's absolutely free, so come and join us.

Stuart Atkinson Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal