You’ll be able to see Santa flying home in the sky on Christmas Day morning

You can make Christmas Day morning even more magical for the family this year by catching a glimpse of Father Christmas and his sleigh. After an exhausting night of dropping off presents, Santa and his reindeer will be visible as they fly back to the North Pole in the early morning sky.

It may mean an early start but the chances are that if you have young ones you will be up at that time anyway opening presents and making a start on the festive chocolates.

In Greater Manchester, you will have two chances to spot Santa’s sleigh – which will appear as a shining light that will look like a moving star.

READ MORE: I compared Quality Street pick ‘n’ mix to a regular tin – to see exactly how many chocolates you get

READ MORE: Read more of today’s top stories from the Manchester Evening News

If you have little ones reading this it may now be time to tell them to stop as we explain what it is.

Of course, it’s not really Santa but in fact the International Space Station (ISS) moving across the sky. The ISS appears as a bright moving object due to the Sun’s reflection.

Whether or not you get to see it will of course depend on the weather and the sky being clear. It should still be dark enough to spot as the Sun does not rise on Christmas Day until 8.27am.

If you live in other parts of the UK chances are you will be able to see the ISS as well at some stage in the morning – but times will vary. For example in London it will only appear once and at 5.54am.You can view the times for where you live here.

There are other opportunities to spot the ISS throughout the year – but of course you won’t be able to use the Santa’s sleigh line.

ISS sighting times (or Santa’s sleigh) in Manchester on Christmas Day:

• 5.57am for three minutes. It will appear from the south
• 7.30am for seven minutes. It will appear from the west