Arguably the most iconic skyline in the world (thanks to movies) would look completely different if it was on another world. On Venus, New York City would be a yellow haze, on Mercury would look glow in the dark, on Mars would make everything rusty and on Uranus and Neptune would totally obliterate the city. Read More >>

Though we've seen plenty of our beautiful blue marble from space before, here's what Earth looks like from a hundred million miles away. That's roughly the same distance from the Earth to the Sun. Read More >>

French astronomers think they found Tatooine in real life and we didn't even have to travel to a galaxy far, far away (well, it's still kind of far). The fictional home of Luke Skywalker is called 2MASS0103(AB)b in real life and it revolves around two suns that move relatively close together. Basically, this planet is in the binary star system just like Tatooine. Read More >>

While Curiosity's off drilling into the surface of Mars, plenty of other man-made, space-bound machines are surveying the rest of the solar system, and coming with some pretty cool stuff. NASA's MESSENGER, for instance, put together quite the mesmerizing footage of Mercury's spin. Read More >>

Good news for anyone who's stared in envy as NASA sends rover after rover to explore and study Mars. You no longer need countless millions and a team of rocket scientists to perform your own experiments on the red planet. For just £22-odd ThinkGeek will sell you your very own shard of our celestial neighbour. Read More >>

Astronomers have a mind-blowing new theory: there are 17 billion Earth-sized planets in our galaxy. They don't yet know how many of these worlds are in habitable zones, of course, but the implications of this discovery are amazing. So much that some claim the "quest for a twin Earth is heating up." Read More >>

We all have that friend who seems more interested in the rest of the universe than our home planet. They're glued to space documentaries, they're awed by every new image from the Hubble telescope, and nothing makes them happier than a clear, cloudless night. If there's someone on your list fascinated by the stars, here are some great suggestions to help get your shopping done early. Read More >>

Melding past with present, the Teluria Candelabra's designers were inspired by the tellurian, a centuries old device that used the earth, moon, and sun's rotations to visualise the seasons. Designed by Note Design Studio for Klong, the creators intend for their candelabra to visualise the "cause of night and day, solar and lunar eclipses, and the phases of the moon." Read More >>

Holy sci-fi awesome space balls. European astronomers have discovered an alien planet in Alpha Centauri, the star system that's pretty much our neighbour. The planet, which is Earth-sized, is only 4.3 light years away. Read More >>

Earth's hotter, meaner twin is blowing hot and cold. This picture from Venus Express, the European Space Agency's planetary orbiter, shows Venus' south pole in transition between day and night. Read More >>

Uranus. Your anus. You're in us. As hard as you might try, it's almost impossible to avoid smirking when you hear the name of the seventh planet. This video, by GCP Grey, takes a look at the history of its name, how it could have had a monicker that made fewer children laugh and — most importantly — how to go about pronouncing it on those rare occasions when you simply have to refer to it directly. [YouTube] Read More >>

This is a very simple and brilliant visualisation of all planets known to humankind as of June 2012. There are 786, including the eight in our Solar System, which is shown in the grey square in the centre. Read More >>

Discovered in 1930, poor old Pluto got a pretty rough ride in the last decade or so. Once it was a fully fledged planet; now it's just puny "minor planet" in the newly designated Kuipier Belt -- astronomers just couldn't leave it alone. But I guess all this really depends on your definition of what a planet really is -- watch and learn. Read More >>

NASA released dramatic new findings from the planet-scouting Kepler spacecraft project Thursday. Looks like the universe is way, way more crowded than we had realized. Read More >>

An international team of astronomers have reached the most definitive conclusion, one with profound implications: our galaxy contains a minimum of 100 billion planets. Of those, most are small planets like ours. Statistically, every star would have at least one planet. Read More >>