Astronomy will be brought down to earth in a special moment of live stargazing that will motivate the nation to look up at the wonders that fill our skies every night of the year.

The three episodes on BBC Two, stripped over the three consecutive nights of 3 - 5 January will be presented by Prof Brian Cox, Dara O Briain and One Show astronomer Mark Thompson whilst Liz Bonin is live from Hawaii.

In his own inimitable fashion, Brian shows how anyone can be an astronomer, as he encourages the audience to set off on their own journey of discovery.

This event is being planned to coincide with a series of three exciting celestial events that should be visible to amateurs and experts alike in the UK (weather permitting!).

Each of these events will provide an ideal way to theme each programme including the appearance of Jupiter in conjunction with Uranus for the first time since the 14th Century, a spectacular partial solar eclipse and the Quadrantid Meteor Shower.

The presenters will answer questions, request photographs of the sky from the audience and use demonstrations and real-time astronomical images to guide the nation's amateur astronomers across the skies.

There will be plenty of resources on offer such as downloadable star charts and audio guides to get you started and plenty of events happening throughout Wales.

It's that time of year again and we're in for a treat tonight and early on Tuesday morning as the skies should be fairly clear over much of Wales.

The Geminids can be seen annually at this time of year.

Most meteor showers are linked to dust and debris from comets but the Geminids originate from an asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon.

3200 Phaethon has a cloud of dust trailing from it that the Earth moves through every year in mid December.

Particles of dust travelling at 80,000 mph hit our atmosphere and appear as bright pale green streaks of light, streaking across the sky at a rate of up to 80 per hour.

To see the Geminids, stand with your feet pointing North, West or Southwards and look up at an angle of about 45 degrees. I'll be cheating this time and using my iphone 'star walk' application to find them! ;)

If you know your constellations then look up towards the Castor star which forms part of Gemini.

The best time to see them will be a couple of hours after midnight so set your alarm and wrap up warm, as it will be a chilly night.

There's a nice little piece in the Guardian about the meteor showers today.

As ever I'd love to see your pics particularly with the BBC 'star gazing' event coming up in early January...but more on that nearer the time.

Send your pics to me at wales.nature@bbc.co.uk or submit them to our fantastic Flickr group.