Live coverage: ExoMars orbiter safely arrives at Mars, lander’s fate uncertain

An Israeli-built spacecraft financed through donations from billionaire philanthropists is set to make history Thursday when it tries to become the first privately-funded probe to land on the Moon.

Mars may be almost four weeks past opposition, but it’s still an imposing sight low in the southern sky around local midnight. But if you are in any doubt about identifying the Red Planet, the waxing gibbous Moon acts as a convenient celestial guide late into the UK night of Thursday, 23 August. See both the Moon and the Red Planet in the same field of view of low-power binoculars.

ESA and NASA announce new missions to study a pristine comet, the solar corona and how the solar wind interacts with Earth’s atmosphere.