The August "Night Sky" page is now up: www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/ or just put "Night Sky" into Google.
Use a planetarium program to find when the Sun is precisely due south at your location and use its shadow to find due north.
The Planck spacecraft is now safely on its way to the area, known as L2, where it will observe the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Tomorrow, 14th May, the Planck spacecraft will be launched just after 2 pm. Some of the receiver systems were built at Jodrell Bank.
There is some activity visible on the Sun now - perhaps the next solar cycle is really underway: google "SOHO satellite" to view images.