HERE is the weekly Skywatch column from Stuart Atkinson.

The International Space Station (ISS) is visible from Cumbria and from across the UK again, and the good news is that it is going to be crossing the sky in the hours after sunset, so if you want to see it you'll not have to either get up very early or stay up very late.

You can see it in the early evening before getting cosy on the sofa for the night.

If you've seen the ISS before you can skip this next bit and go straight to the dates and times below, but if you haven't  seen it before then you are looking for a bright "star" that rises in the west, arcs across the sky - from right to left as you're standing there looking at the sky - and then sets or fades from view over in the east.

The movement is the key: if you're looking at a bright light standing still in the sky that's a star, not the ISS.

This is important because there are several bright planets on view in the evening sky at the moment which many people might confuse with the ISS.

So, to see the ISS, go out on the following dates, just before the times given, and face the west. Eventually you'll see a "star" rising up from the horizon, heading left.

This will be the ISS. Some "passes" are higher and brighter than others, but even the faint, low passes are fascinating to watch when you realise you're looking at a real life spaceship, with a crew of astronauts onboard, flying through the constellations at 17,000 mph.

DATE: November 23rd - TIMES: 16.54 and 18.30

DATE: November 24th - TIMES: 17.42 and 19.16

DATE: November 25th - TIMES: 16.53 and 18.29

DATE: November 26th - TIMES: 17.41 and 19.15

DATE: November 27th - TIMES: 16.53 and 18.29

Please note, if you see a bright "star" travelling low across the southern sky on any of these nights, scraping the treetops, that's not the ISS, it's a new communications satellite called "Blue Walker" which is so highly reflective it is worrying many astronomers.