AS PREDICTED last weekend's Perseid meteor shower was rather washed out by the Moon, which rose on Saturday night just as activity was building up to its peak, writes STUART ATKINSON. That meant that instead of seeing many dozens of shooting stars through the night, one every minute or so, only the very brightest shooting stars could be seen, and they were several minutes apart. Fingers crossed for better weather for the year's remaining major showers, in October, November and December, none of which will be murdered by the Moon.

It's now dark enough by around eleven o'clock in the evening to see the Milky Way - but only if you're somewhere really dark, away from light pollution. Streetlights, house security lights and illuminated buildings (hotels are among the worst offenders when it comes to light pollution, and there are some real horrors in Kendal) all bleach the sky to a dull orange dome, robbing us all of the beauty of a sparkling starry night.

If you can get somewhere dark, around you will see a faint misty 'band' essentially cutting the sky in half, running from the north-east to the south-west. This is the Milky Way - our galaxy, seen edge on. To the naked eye it's just a mottled smudge, but binoculars show it is made up of countless millions of tiny stars, like spilled salt. As silly as it sounds, you'll see it best if you turn around slowly on the spit and look overhead as you turn, then it will pop out into view.