Good news - there's a comet in the sky, that is visible in binoculars and might, at the end of this week, become bright enough to see with the naked eye.

The bad news comes in two parts.

Firstly, we seem to be set in a pattern of awful, awful weather that means all we are seeing in the sky night after night are clouds, and secondly if you want to see this comet you'll need to be up between 3 and 6am, because that's when it's at its most visible.

The comet is called Comet Leonard, or to give it its full name Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard.

It was discovered at the very start of the year (hence "A1") and is now, having drifted below the stars of the Big Dipper, close to a bright star in the sky called Arcturus.

You find this star by following the "arc" of the curved handle of the Big Dipper away from it, and there's Arcturus, shining on its own in the sky.

At this time of the year Arcturus is low in the east before sunrise, which is why you'll have to get up before dawn if you want to see this comet.

Remember Comet Neowise which graced our summer sky a couple of years ago? Remember how big and bright and obvious it was to the naked eye? Well, Comet Leonard is nothing like that.

Through binoculars it just looks just like a green-tinged star with a short, misty, stubby tail behind it.

There's a chance that by December 12th it will have grown a longer tail, and will be easy to see with the naked eye, low in the south west after sunset, to the right of Venus, but we don't know yet, we'll have to wait and see.

For now, if you want to see Comet Leonard, go out at around 4am, find the Big Dipper, use its handle to find Arcturus, and scan the sky below and to the left of it for something fuzzy. If you see it - that's the comet.