The UK under a curtain of aurora

Urban dwellers may resign themselves to spotting the Moon, planets and the brightest stars with the unaided eye on a clear night, but every so often a bright satellite will catch your attention as it glides silently across the sky. The brightest is the 400-tonne International Space Station (ISS) whose orbit carries it directly overhead as seen from the British Isles and parts of Western Europe tonight.

Astronomers circling the North Atlantic and in South America were treated to a spectacular total eclipse of the Moon that occurred at prime time for US-based stargazers Sunday night, 27 September and in the early hours of this morning for observers in Western Europe.

Three crewmen from Russia, the United States and Great Britain blasted off toward the International Space Station on Tuesday, rocketing into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in pursuit of the orbiting research lab.