AFTER more than five weeks of clear night skies of course the weather turned against us on the night of the total lunar eclipse and we missed the whole thing, writes STUART ATKINSON.

In fact, it seems like no more than a handful of people across the whole of the UK caught more than a fleeting glimpse of the Moon as it drifted through Earth's shadow. Bitterly disappointing of course, after looking forward to it for so long, but it happens so often with astronomical events. All we can do is put it down to experience and look forward to The Next Thing.

Luckily, there's still plenty going on in the night sky at the moment. Although the 2018 noctilucent cloud season has now finished - and it was a very good year with lots of lovely displays, even though we didn't get the full-on storm we all hoped for - Mars is still a very striking sight in the night sky, closer to us, and brighter, than it has been since 2003. Look to the south east after 10pm and you'll see Mars shining there, low in the sky, glowing with a beautiful orange-red light.

You also need to be keeping an eye open for shooting stars on any clear nights. August 12 and 13 sees the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower but activity is already climbing. Look to the east after midnight and you might see an early Perseid shooting star zip across the sky.