THE 2016 noctilucent cloud season has ended and there's no point beating about the bush - it was rubbish. There were only two displays of NLC visible to the naked eye over the whole of the summer. We can't even blame the weather because there were lots of clear nights when the NLC just didn't appear. Very disappointing. We did miss a fantastic Perseid meteor shower because of the weather though - elsewhere in the UK sky watchers saw hundreds of shooting stars between August 10 and August 13.
So what is there to see now? Thankfully it's starting to get dark at a reasonable time again, so we don't have to wait until midnight to see the stars. As for planets, Jupiter is now very low in the west as darkness falls, and over to its left Saturn and Mars are still shining in the south (look out for golden Saturn shining directly above ruddy Mars after dark on Tuesday, August 23), but all three worlds are much lower and fainter than they were at the start of summer. You might just glimpse Venus close to Jupiter's right half an hour after sunset, but if you can't see it don't worry, it will be a magnificent sight later in the year.
Stuart Atkinson
Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal
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