THE Cumbrian weather really seems to have it in for us at the moment, writes STUART ATKINSON. Since I wrote the last Skywatch we have missed two more displays of the northern lights and have seen nothing of the beautiful meeting, or 'conjunction,' of the planets Venus and Mars in the eastern sky before dawn. It's very disheartening.

Hopefully there will be some clear evenings in the week ahead because the International Space Station - ISS - is visible in our sky after dark again. Veteran ISS-watchers can just skip to the times listed at the end of the column, but if you're a newcomer to ISS watching what do you do?

You need to go out on the dates below, at the times given, and face the west. After a couple of minutes you'll see what looks like a star starting to climb up into the sky in that direction - this is the space station. It will then arc to the east - travelling to your left as you look at it. Some nights it's higher than others, some nights it's brighter too, but will always look like a bright star drifting from west to east, shining steadily without flashing.

Here's when to look on October 5: 19.40 and 21.15; October 6: 20.24; October 7: 19.32 and 21.07; October 8: 20.16; October 9: 19.24 and 21.00; October 10: 20.08; October 11: 19.16 and 20.52.