Seaside sights
Four of our favourite celestial sights to look out for when taking in the sea air at the coast
A full Moon rising
The rise of the full Moon over a sea horizon can be one of the most striking astronomical views you’ll see from a coastal location – especially on those rare days of good sky transparency when there’s little haze low down. As the disc of the Moon emerges into view, the atmosphere causes its coppery-red form to distort and shimmer, and this warping can be mesmerising in binoculars. As the twilight deepens, the moonlight on the water adds to the scene.
Noctilucent clouds
From late May, for a few summer months, it’s noctilucent cloud (NLC) season in the mid-northern latitudes. These ‘night-shining’ clouds sit high in the mesosphere and can appear against a star-flecked twilight sky after sunset, or before dawn. From the UK’s southernmost parts some displays hug the northern horizon, which means that north-facing coastal locations provide good observing spots, thanks to their typically open views down to a low altitude.
The Lagoon Nebula
If you were to write a list of the UK summer’s top celestial sights, many would likely be ones sitting low in the sky. The Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius, the Archer is a good example and is one to look out for – around 23:00 BST (22:30 UT) in late July and early August – if you’re visiting a seaside spot with unobstructed views to the south. Under very dark skies it’s actually visible to the naked eye and it’s a lovely object when viewed with a wide-angle eyepiece on a small refractor.
Messier 7
Open star cluster M7, in the constellation of Scorpius, the Scorpion, is a challenging object to observe and image due to its low UK altitude in the summer night skies. Even from our most southerly coastlines it’s a stretch and to get a reasonable view you’ll need a night with good sky transparency near the horizon. It has a declination of nearly –35°, which means that from the south coast it sits only 4° above the horizon around 23:00 BST (22:00 UT) in late July.