CROSS your fingers for a clear sky on Friday morning (February 1), because we'll be able to see something really special in the sky before sunrise, writes STUART ATKINSON.

On that morning, if you look to the south east at around 6.30am you'll see Venus blazing in that direction, quite low in the sky, looking like a bright, silvery blue-white star. A short distance to its upper right you'll see another 'star' but this is actually the planet Jupiter. The two planets were a lot closer together last week, but are drifting apart now. If you look down to the lower left of Venus you'll see a very thin waning crescent Moon shining there, just above the horizon too. Together, this kinked line of three worlds will look very pretty in the pre-dawn sky, but you won't have long to enjoy them; the sky will already be brightening with the approach of sunrise.

It's now 15 years since the Mars rover Opportunity landed on the Red Planet. Unfortunately, it hasn't been heard from for more than 230 days, and many fear its mission has now ended. However, if you want to wish it good luck you can see Mars in the evening sky, halfway up in the south west as darkness falls. Maybe if we all wished really, really hard Opportunity will wake up from her long sleep and rove again...