IF IT is planets you want to see in the night sky, then you're in luck, as there are quite a few available for you to look at.

Unfortunately you have to get up early - or stay up late - to see the brightest of those on view at the moment.

Having said that, the worlds on view are all quite low in the sky before dawn, and as the morning sky is getting bright earlier and earlier now (I'm walking to work at 7am in daylight again!) there's really only a small 'observing window' available to see them.

But if your sky is clear around 6am you can spot a trio of worlds stretched out from the south east to the south in a line across the pre-dawn sky.

You won't even need a telescope or binoculars because they're all bright enough to be seen with just the naked eye.

Brightest of the three by a long way is Venus, currently wearing its 'Morning Star' hat.

You'll see it about low down in the sky looking south east at 6am, looking like a bright blue-white spark to your eye.

If you look more closely you'll see a fainter 'star' just to Venus' right. This star is actually the planet Saturn, and the two planets appear quite close together at the moment because they lie along the same line-of-sight as seen from Earth.

Saturn is famous for its beautiful rings, of course, but you'll only see those through a telescope.

Having found Venus and Saturn, look further over to the right and above the southern horizon, higher than Venus and Saturn, and you'll see Jupiter shining there, not as bright as Venus but a lot brighter than Saturn.

The 'Red Planet', Mars, is also on view in the evening sky, but it's sinking towards the western horizon as darkness falls and after dominating the sky last summer it now just looks like an unremarkable red star.

I'm finding it hard to look at Mars now we've lost the Opportunity rover.