It's midsummer. Deep in the north we see the bright star Capella in the constellation of Auriga. The constellation Andromeda with its nearest neighbouring galaxy M31 (marked by a small ellipse) is rising in the north-east. M31 can be seen by a trained eye, with an elliptical patch of light appearing in the binoculars. The Sky-W in Cassiopeia is already seen high up the north-east. High up in the east and north-east, Deneb in the constellation of Cygnus and Vega in Lyra are shining conspicuously. The big constellation of Hercules, in which the experienced observer may find the globular cluster M13 with binoculars, is just passing the meridian. The bright star Arcturus in Bootes is now half-way down in the west, and the constellation of Virgo with its brightest star Spica is stretching out deep in the south-west. The Big Dipper is seen haölf-way down in the north-west. The giant gas planets Jupiter and Saturn are gradually rising up above the south-eastern horizon.

For amateur astronomers who have their own telescopes, here are links to the relevant weather data and the so-called 'seeing', which is a measure of air turbulence. A bad seeing makes celestial objects wobble at high magnification, so that for example lunar craters or planetary discs appear more or less blurred, and astrophotos seem to be out of focus. Regarding the weather informations we recommend the sat24 and wetteronline internet services. The seeing for Schalkenmehren can be taken from meteoblue. Light pollution is low at Hoher List, as the following map shows.