Sky Matters - Take the opportunity to look for the summer Milky Way

Although the summer nights are gradually getting longer, they remain short in July and even away from city lights there is a faint glow in the night sky, writes Niall Smith.

At this time of year the sun never dips very far below the horizon and so particles high up in the Earth’s atmosphere scatter some of light down towards the ground. Similar particles are responsible for the blue colour of our daytime sky. By contrast, the sky on Mars in a Martian day is a salmon-pink colour.

This is because the particles in the atmosphere are smaller than their Earthly counterparts and they scatter red light more than blue light. The particles themselves get high up into the Martian atmosphere thanks to dust storms which can sometimes grow to cover almost the entire planet. Martian particles are composed largely of iron oxide which covers the surface of the planet giving it its characteristic red colour.