The famous variable star Mira has brightened in recent weeks and is now visible with binoculars or even the naked eye from many light-polluted locations. Read more

It’s summer, and with August comes darkness just that bit earlier than in midsummer. And with the holiday period upon us, there’s more opportunity for stargazing in the evening. Read more

The International Space Station is making a spectacular series of evening passes over the UK, continuing until early August. Read more

It’s complete coincidence of course, but there will be a partial eclipse of the Moon on Tuesday 16 July 2019 on the 50th anniversary of the day that Apollo 11 blasted off towards the Moon. The eclipse will be visible from the whole of the UK, though how much of it you see will depend on your location. Read more

Recent nights have seen superb displays of noctilucent cloud (NLC) – blue-white cloud structures that form on the edge of space in the northern sky. Read more

As Jupiter reaches its closest point to Earth for the year, observers are reporting that its famous Great Red Spot is rapidly shrinking. Read more

The first of a major series of satellites produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX corporation have been launched, and are already causing consternation among astronomers (see update below). A string of 60 satellites have been seen crossing the night sky, and the plan is eventually to launch 12,000 such satellites. Read more

If you thought that SKA was a style of Jamaican music, think again. It’s an amazing new radio telescope with a collecting area of a whole square kilometre – the Square Kilometre Array, geddit? – that is currently being built across Australia and South Africa. Read more

With no bright planets easily visible in the evening sky at the moment, we need to turn to fainter objects. This is a great time to try your hand at observing galaxies millions of light years away. Read more