FOLLOWING the latest storms there have been some really clear, crisp mornings this past week, and if you were up early walking the dog, or going to or coming back from work you'll have seen a very bright point of light low in the sky, to the south east.

You might have thought this was just a bright star, or even the International Space Station (a couple of people told me it was that as I stopped to take photos of it on my way to work!) but it's actually the planet Venus.

Venus' most common nickname is "The Evening Star", and it was that at the end of last year, shining brightly in the evening twilight after sunset.

But it can be a "Morning Star" too, and that's what it is at the moment - a glorious Morning Star blazing in the sky before dawn.

Venus might look beautiful - and that's why it was named after the Goddess of Love - but it is actually a hell planet.

Its curdled carbon dioxide atmosphere is poisonous and unbreathable, and so thick that the pressure on the planet's surface is so strong it has crushed space-probes sent down there.

That atmosphere also traps the Sun's heat like the glass of a greenhouse, rising the surface temperature to almost 500 degrees C.

If astronauts ever travel to Venus they'll need special metallic pressure suits that look more like clunky suits of armour than the gleaming white spacesuits worn by the Apollo Moonwalkers, if they're to survive walking on the planet's rocky, heat-blasted landscape.

So, if you're up and about early enough on any day this next week, take a look at Venus shining low in the sky.

It really is a beautiful sight.