The cloud is 1,800 km long, nearly twice the length of the UK, and appears every spring and summer in Mars' southern hemisphere during the Martian dusty season.

NASA's Curiosity rover has beamed back the most detailed view yet of the distant, wind-carved Martian cliffs.

Curiosity has been exploring the Red Planet since touching down in Gale Crater in August 2012.

A study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters suggests that Mercury may have contracted more than previously believed.

Scientists from China have cooked up a recipe that they say could one day be used to construct buildings on the red planet.

Scientists say Mercury formed through a flurry of violent collisions between rocks and asteroids orbiting the Sun around 4.5 billion years ago.