These new images of Mars, Charon and Pluto are a visual feast

We can't help but feel we're numb to space these days.

A few generations ago, the notion of landing a human on the face of the Moon seemed utterly implausible, while controlling a robot on the surface of Mars was laughable even for the sci-fi genre.

As such, we'd suggest you take a moment to ponder the majesty of these new images of Mars, Pluto and its small moon, Charon. These are giant balls of rock, gas and 'stuff', hurtling around the Sun at several million miles per hour - and they look totally beautiful.

The images of Mars' icy south pole were recently sent back to Earth by the European Space Agency's Mars Express satellite, hovering some 6,000 miles above its surface. The photos of Pluto and its moon Charon are the latest from NASA's New Horizons mission.

Get clicking through the gallery and prepare to start dreaming about stars.

The icy pole of Mars

Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Pluto

(Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

Pluto's 'haze layers'

(Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

Pluto

(Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

Pluto

(Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

Pluto

(Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

Charon, Pluto's largest moon

(Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)