THE 2017 NLC (noctilucent cloud) season is now well and truly over, writes STUART ATKINSON. And it was so bad we'll speak no more of it, agreed? Typically, although the sky was almost perfectly clear for last weekend's Perseid meteor shower, it was rather spoiled by the big bright Moon. From a dark sky site outside of Kendal we saw quite a few before Moonrise, then next to nothing as the sky was bleached by the Moon's brilliant light.

We are now entering 'aurora season' - statistically the northern lights are visible from our part of the world more often during September and October - so keep an eye on the northern sky now for pale green or pink glows. You can improve your chances of seeing the aurora by downloading aurora-alert apps onto your phone or tablet, or joining aurora-watching groups on social media.

If you're a planet-watcher you can still see Saturn shining low in the south during the evening, but you'll need a telescope to see its lovely system of rings. However, if you're an early riser you can now see Venus before dawn, blazing in the east as a beautiful 'morning star.' Rising around 3am, Venus is now quite shockingly bright as it bursts above the horizon, looking like a silvery-white spark to the naked eye, far brighter than anything else in the sky at that time.