Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

So I grabbed my camera, ran outside, and looked up just as Mars was supposed to emerge from the Moon's curved horizon. Seen with the naked eye, the Moon's brightness far outshined Mars, casting soft shadows on a cold winter evening in East Texas.

Mars has northern and southern hemispheres like Earth, but their defining characteristics are markedly different, a phenomenon known as Martian dichotomy. The Southern Highlands are older, higher in elevation and more cratered than the Northern Lowlands.

I pick out North America’s celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to mid-northern latitudes in the northern hemisphere).

We have long been inspired by the idea that life could reside on Mars – human or otherwise. But fiction is getting closer to reality, says NASA’s former chief scientist, Jim Green. “NASA’s plan, in the long run,

This transit of Mars in Mithun Rashi will bring you abundance and courage. Your enemies will suffer the wrath of God. You will be able to get all the support and courage to decimate your enemies. You will emerge successful in any competitive situation.

On this date, Jan. 18, 2004, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express finalized mapping of the Red Planet’s south pole. The probe’s OMEGA instrument, which combined data from a camera and an infrared spectrometer, revealed the presence of water ice and carbon dioxide ice for the first time on Mars.

NASA recently released an overhead view of what appears to be massive kidney beans found on Mars' northern hemisphere. In reality, the legume imposters are frozen sand dunes, which are common on Mars and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

The Red Planet reaches its best position all year this week on January 15. Here’s how and when to get out and see it.

Mars will seem to disappear behind the full wolf moon Monday for many sky-gazers. Throughout January, also look up to see Venus, Saturn and Jupiter in the night sky.

Researchers have discovered two sets of ancient wave ripples on Mars, signatures of long-dried bodies of water preserved in the rock record. Wave ripples are small undulations in the sandy shores of lakebeds,

NASA’s Curiosity rover is skygazing and photographing lovely examples of noctilucent clouds on Mars. The wispy formations hang like a veil across the sky.