The 2014 Noctilucent Cloud season is now well underway, and although the Cumbrian weather has thwarted our attempts to see them here in Kendal, displays of these beautiful night glowing clouds have been seen from elsewhere across the northern UK. It must be our turn soon. To see them you need to be looking for wisps, billows and streamers of electric blue cloud above the northern sky around midnight. It is also worth checking the eastern sky before dawn.

Astronomers can't enjoy dark night skies this time of year because it never really gets dark, thanks to the Sun, so we look at the Sun itself. Obviously this is potentially very dangerous, but with great care and very specialised equipment and techniques we can see fascinating detail on the Sun's surface. If you'd like to see the Sun in all its glory, come along to our Sunwatch at Kendal Museum between noon and 2pm on Saturday (June 14). We'll show you enormous sunspots and loops of gas shooting off the Sun, all in absolute safety.

Stuart Atkinson, Eddington AS of Kendal