Live coverage: Europe’s Mars mission launches

With the transit of Mercury just two days away, interest in this comparatively rare event is growing fast. Given the favourable timing of this 7½-hour phenomenon for the UK, many will be able to view it at lunchtime or after work. If you don’t have suitably equipped telescope, join one of the many transit-viewing activities hosted by astronomical organisations nationwide.

Inner planets Mercury and Venus are currently approaching conjunction, low to the southwest horizon shortly after sunset. If you have an extra clear sky, then Mars completes the scene.

The UK’s Beagle 2 mission to Mars, which was lost in 2003 as it entered the red planet’s atmosphere, has been rediscovered by NASA’s eagle eye in the Martian sky, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.