THERE is good news and bad news, writes STUART ATKINSON. The good news - after being absent from our sky for a couple of weeks the International Space Station (ISS) is going to be visible again this coming week. The bad news - you'll have to get up very early, or stay up very late to see it, because it will be crossing the sky during the small hours before dawn. But it will be worth making the effort to get out of bed and see it because some of the passes will be very high and very bright.

More good news: you don't need a telescope or even a pair of binoculars to see the space station, it's clearly visible to the naked eye as a bright 'star' that crosses the sky, perfectly silently, at about the same speed as an airplane. All you have to do is go out a few minutes before the times listed below, look to the west (not sure which way is west? Just remember the direction you usually see the Sun setting in from where you live and face that way) and wait. After a few minutes you'll see a star rising up from the horizon, on a path that will take it on an arc over towards the south - i.e. heading from right to left as you look at it. That star is the ISS. It will then move across the sky, heading east. On some passes ISS is very high and very bright, on others it is much fainter and barely scrapes the treetops. But it is always impressive, especially when you realise that there are people living, working, and sleeping on that star you are watching drift across the heavens.

Here are the dates and times for the next week: September 7, 04.28; 8th, 03.37 and 05.12; 9th, 04.20 and 05.56; 10th, 03.30 and 05.04; 11th, 04.13 and 05.48; 12th, 03.23 and 04.56.