Stargazers are in for a beautiful sight on Thursday morning as Venus and Jupiter appear together in the sky - with the crescent moon set to journey between them.

Shortly before sunrise, the waning crescent moon will slip between the bright red star Antares, before journeying between the two brightest planets in the sky.

Professor John Brown, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, says the best time to view the occurrence will be just before dawn.

"Between 6am and 7am in the morning would be a good time," says Professor Brown.

"Not too much later than that. You should see the crescent moon in the south east, Venus will be very bright to the left of the moon, Jupiter quite bright to the right of them both."

The moon and planets will be quite low in the horizon and will look best in clearer skies.

With a hard frost forecast overnight, many places across Scotland will hopefully enjoy clear skies for stargazers, though anyone wanting to head outdoors will want to wrap up warm.

Temperatures are likely to fall to around -12C overnight in parts of Braemar and will struggle to rise much above freezing in the early morning.

The moon and the two planets are the three brightest objects in the night sky, outshone only during the day by the sun.

Antares is less bright, but as Professor Brown says, its "distinct red colour" will make a lovely addition.

Stargazers won't have long to catch the sight though before sunrise.

If you do manage to see it and take any pictures please do share them with by emailing laura.piper@stv.tv

Picture credit: Astronaut Scott Kelly took the photo used in this article.

This image was catalogued by Johnson Space Center of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: ISS044-E-02824.