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Planets

Space

A planet-spotting extravaganza is coming, if you are an early riser

Stargazing usually favours night owls, but here's a treat for early birds, says Abigail Beall, who offers a host of planets peeping over the horizon

Regulars
This picture is from ESA?s Mars Express. The bright white region of this image shows the icy cap that covers Mars? south pole, composed of frozen water and carbon dioxide. While it looks smooth in this image, at close quarters the cap is a layered mix of peaks, troughs and flat plains, and has been likened in appearance to swiss cheese.

Space

Mars ‘lake’ may actually be volcanic rocks buried beneath the ice cap

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Rogue planet

Space

At least 70 ‘rogue’ planets spotted drifting in space without a star

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Dwarf planet Ceres is shown in these false-color renderings, which highlight differences in surface materials.

Space

Now is the perfect time to see dwarf planet Ceres for yourself

Regulars

Space

Pluto’s dark side revealed by moonlight in pictures from New Horizons

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Jupiter's iconic Great Red Spot

Space

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot extends far deeper than we realised

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A giant of a moon appears before a giant of a planet undergoing seasonal changes in this natural color view of Titan and Saturn from NASA Cassini spacecraft.

Space

Saturn’s moon Titan may be doomed to fly away or smash into the planet

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Channels on Mars

Space

The deepest canyons on Mars were rapidly formed by devastating floods

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A composite view of Venus from data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter

Space

Life on Venus may have only been possible for its first billion years

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Artist?s impression of the BepiColombo spacecraft at Mercury. The mission comprises ESA?s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (foreground) and JAXA?s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (background). The image of Mercury was taken by NASA?s Messenger spacecraft.

Space

The BepiColombo spacecraft is about to make its first Mercury fly-by

The BepiColombo mission will pass within about 200 kilometres of the surface of Mercury in October, where it will measure the planet’s magnetic field and exosphere

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Space

Mushballs inside Uranus and Neptune may solve an atmospheric mystery

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Space

Mercury has almost no boulders on its surface and we’re not sure why

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Space

Ancient lake in Mars’s Gale crater may have actually been a small pond

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Space

Strange gas in Venus’s clouds may be a sign of volcanoes, not life

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