If you want to wish upon a star for Christmas, take a look at the night sky on Wednesday December 13 (tonight) for the annual Geminids meteor shower.

This year, the meteor shower will be at its brightest on the night of December 13, into the early hours of December 14.

The Geminids are one of the best shooting star shows of the year when there are clear skies.

The best time to view is between 10pm and 2am, and can be seen particularly well in darker areas away from street lights such as Portencross, and Fairlie beach.

There are a number of visible planets to look out for in the night sky throughout this coming month too.

Mars rises around 4am throughout December and will be visible in the south-eastern sky at sunrise.

Jupiter rises around 6am at the start of December and by just after 4am at the end of the month and also will be visible low in the southeast at dawn.

On 6th January 2018 around 6am there will be a conjunction of Jupiter and Mars. Both planets will appear almost side-by-side in the sky on that morning - worth setting the alarm clock for!

The Moon will be New on the 18th and First Quarter on 26th.

There are daily passes of the ISS above Paisley in the early evening up until the17th December. The brightest of these will be 2nd December at 6:33pm, 4th at 6:24pm, 6th at 6:16pm and 8th at 6:07pm. The ISS appears as a bright point of light travelling roughly south-west to south-east low in the sky. For more information on ISS and other satellite passes see www.heavens-above.com

The Coats Observatory in Paisley is hosting viewing nights this winter. Viewing season is underway again with the usual Tuesday and Thursday opening from 6:30pm to 9pm. Their last night of 2017 is Thursday 21st December, resuming again on Tuesday 9th January 2018. As always admission is free and there is no need to book.