The short summer nights are warm, but don’t leave much time for observing – though there’s still plenty around to see. The constellation of Boötes rides high with Arcturus, the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, and is high to the south after sunset. Look out for the brilliant star Vega in the constellation of Lyra, not far from the celebrated Ring Nebula (Messier 57), a planetary nebula that looks like a smoke ring through a small telescope. Towards the southern horizon are the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius, where the centre of our galaxy is located. Here the Milky Way is at its densest, with plenty of stars and star clusters for you to seek out, such as Messier 4, 6, 7 and 25.
Using the sky chart…
