THE 2016 Noctilucent Cloud (NLC) season has begun, and there have been two displays already. The first was a very modest affair, barely visible on long exposure photos, but the second display on the evening of June 2 was gorgeous. Between 11.30pm and 2am next morning the northern sky was painted with billows, wisps and herringbone-patterns of striking electric blue, and was easily visible to the naked eye...apparently. I missed it because I was down near Birmingham that night, surrounded by light pollution and tall buildings, so I saw nothing!

This is a good sign. If the clouds are already forming like this so early in the season there's a very good chance of some very dramatic displays before the season ends in late July. So, any and every clear night between now and then, keep an eye on the north eastern sky around midnight. If you see wisps and lines of blue-white cloud shining there, when all the other clouds look dark, you're seeing NLC.

It's also worth keeping an eye on the north western sky before dawn, because sometimes the NLC appear well after midnight, by which time they will have drifted over to the other side of the sky.

You don't need a telescope to watch NLC, they're a beautiful naked eye light show. But binoculars will help you see the subtle shapes and structures within them.

Stuart Atkinson

Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal