The Solar Orbiter, a satellite aiming to deliver new insights about the sun, blasted off from the Cape Canaveral launch complex in Florida at 11:03 pm on Sunday (0403 GMT on Monday) atop an Atlas V 411 rocket.

Mercury will reach Perihelion, which is the point in its orbit where the planet is closest to the sun, at 10.18am in Doha on Friday, Qatar Calendar House (QCH) has said.

New research suggests that long after our roiling, boiling life-giving star runs out of fuel it will slowly form a cold, dead, super-dense crystal sphere about the size of the Earth that will linger like a translucent tombstone for close to eternity.

Mercury will reach Perihelion, which is the point in its orbit where the planet is closest to the sun, in Qatar Sunday, Qatar Calendar House (QCH) has said.

NASA counted down Friday to the launch of a $1.5 billion spacecraft that aims to plunge into the Sun's sizzling atmosphere and become humanity's first mission to explore a star.

Mercury will reach Aphelion point, which is the farthest point in its orbit around the sun, at 1pm in Qatar on Friday.

Planet Venus will reach the Aphelion point (farthest point) in its orbit around the sun at 8pm Tuesday, Qatar Calendar House (QCH) has said.

Earth will reach its nearest point (perihelion point) in its orbit around the Sun on January 3, 2018, at 9am local time, Qatar Calendar House (QCH) said in a statement.

The moon blacked out the sun as the first total solar eclipse in a century marched from the US Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic Coast, while millions of Americans looked skyward in wonder.

Venezuelan supermarkets are increasingly being targeted by looters as swollen lines and prolonged food shortages spark frustration.