THE long, light nights of summer are well and truly here now, and it won't get truly dark again now until August. So what is there to look at 'up there?'
The first noctilucent clouds (NLC) of 2016 were spotted a few days before I wrote this, so any and every clear night from now on keep an eye on the north-western sky around midnight. NLC appear as lovely glowing lines, curls and swirls of electric-blue against the deep purple twilight sky. A major display is breathtakingly beautiful, so keep checking the sky. It's also worth checking the eastern sky before dawn, because NLC can appear then too.
Tim Peake returns from the International Space Station (ISS) in two weeks, at the end of his six month mission. You can see the ISS in the late evening sky again at the moment. Go out on the following dates and at the time given, look for a bright 'star' rising in the west, and that's the ISS. June 2: 00.42, 02.16 and 23.46; June 3: 01.25 and 22.57; June 4: 00.33 and 23.40; June 5: 01.15 and 22.47; June 6: 00.23 and 23.31; June 7: 22.38; June 8: 00.14 and 23.21.
Give Tim a wave if you see it - he might be looking back and taking your photo!
Stuart Atkinson
Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal
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