It used to be said that you could test your eyesight by counting the number of stars visible to the unaided eye. The best nights to try this are around January 19 when the Moon is new

As Santa sits at the North Pole anticipating the discovery of life on some far-flung planet he might be somewhat nervously scanning the latest scientific literature to see which exoplanets are hot topics

For most of its journey 3I/ATLAS has been frozen solid, but the warming rays of our Sun are enough to unfreeze some of its gases such as carbon dioxide, generating a faint cometary tail. For a period of a few weeks 3I/ATLAS comes alive, only to pass out of the solar system and spend perhaps the next billion years or more back in its frozen state

While dark skies make it easiest to see the Orionids, don’t be put off by not having access to a pristine location

And the Autumnal Equinox is on September 22 — this is the date when the length of day and night are equal for every one of Earth's 8.2 billion people

This month the most famous meteor shower — the Perseids — will peak on the evening of August 12

There will be a lunar eclipse in the early hours of March 14 and a solar eclipse on March 29

Human space travel won't always be the preserve of the elite but until then there are other ways to experience the dramatic beauty of space