If this awful weather ever breaks, there are quite a few treats in view in the sky on these 'summer' evenings, but you'll have to wait until midnight for the sky to be dark enough to see them.
Looking to the west around midnight you'll see the planet Jupiter shining low above the horizon. Jupiter, remember, dominated the sky during the spring, but is now well past its best, and sets in the early hours of the morning.
Over to Jupiter's left, above the south west horizon, you'll find orange-hued Mars and slightly caramel-tinted Saturn looking like a pair of stars about a hand's width apart. Mars, on the right, is by far the brighter of the two. If you can observe them from a really dark sky they'll look striking together. By the end of August they will be much closer together, looking like a beautiful double star. More of that then.
Don't forget to keep an eye out for displays of rare noctilucent clouds after midnight too. If you see electric blue and lavender-hued trails, swirls and ribbons of light above the northern horizon around midnight, you're seeing "NLC." Only visible between June and July, the appearance of these beautiful clouds can't be predicted, you just have to get up off the sofa, go outside - and look!
Stuart Atkinson
Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here