Inside the July 2012 issue of Astronomy Now:

Focus: White dwarfs

All stars go to heaven
What's in store for a star like the Sun during its 'afterlife' as a white dwarf? Gemma Lavender explores some of their stranger properties.

White dwarf dust factories
Cardiff University's Dr Haley Gomez explores what is making all the dust in the Universe, as she points the finger squarely white dwarfs or, more precisely, their destruction.

The white dwarf planet apocalypse
Can planets survive around white dwarfs? The evidence suggests they can, but not without a lot of violence along the way. Dr Matt Burleigh of the University of Leicester describes his search for possibly living planets around dead stars.

Features:

Europe's £800 million mission
The European Space Agency's next mega space mission will be to Jupiter, but how are such missions chosen and what happens to those that miss out, asks Keith Cooper.

New toys at NEAF
The North-East Astronomy Forum near New York is one of the largest astronomical fairs in the world. Mark Armstrong reports on what new astro- kit was exclusively on show there.

The transit of Venus 2012
It may have struggled to peek through the early morning clouds in the UK, but elsewhere in the world the transit of Venus provided stunning sights. Tom Kerss writes about his experience viewing the transit in Hawaii, while we present some of the most spectacular imagery of the transit from our readers around the globe.

Fishing for dust devils on Mars
Giant twisters spin across the surface of the red planet, stirring up dust and hinting at conditions in Mars' climate, writes Stephen Clark.

Venturing into southern skies
Owen Brazell attended the UK's most southerly star party to get an eyeful of low declination deep sky treasures through a veritabe forest of giant Dobsonians.