The big three

Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the fine dust debris strewn around the orbit of a comet. This happens when Earth is in a similar position in its orbit every year, and meteor showers rep

BEST TIME TO SEE: From 03:30 BST (02:30 UT) all month. Closest approach on 12 August Venus is the brightest planet that can be seen from Earth. At its peak brightness, when 22% illuminated, Venus appr

1 Our Moonwatch target (see page 52), the walled plain Flammarion, is well placed this evening and tomorrow evening. You can also catch it on the waning Moon on the morning of 16 August. 2 This evenin

The faint, rather indistinct constellation Camelopardalis is supposed to represent a giraffe. It sits between Polaris (Alpha (α) Ursae Minoris) and Capella (Alpha (α) Aurigae). Our first target is loc

1. The Perseus Double Cluster 15x 70 A third of the way from mag. +3.8 Miram (Eta (h) Persei) to mag. +2.6 Ruchbah (Delta (d) Cassiopeiae), you will find a close pair of open clusters. The pair may be

Best time to see: 31 August, 04:00 BST (03:00 UT) Altitude: 48° Location: Taurus Direction: Southeast Features: Colour, subtle atmospheric banding, moons Recommended equipment: 200mm or larger It’s su