Members of the International Astronomical Union are currently meeting in Prague to decide on an official definition of a planet. Their decision could see the Solar System�s ninth planet Pluto downgraded or other objects upgraded in status.
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An amateur Polish astronomer has recently spotted the 1000th sungrazing comet in images from the SOHO spacecraft. These comets pass extremely close to the Sun and are known as Kreutz comets.
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Professor Jack Meadows, former Head of Astronomy and History of Science at the University of Leicester, has had an asteroid named after him in honour of his contribution to Solar System research.
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In the early hours of Monday morning an asteroid will travel past the Earth at a distance similar to that of the Moon. The asteroid, which could be up to 820 metres wide, will pose no threat to Earth.
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Data from Japan�s Hayabusa spacecraft suggests asteroid Itokawa, which the craft visited last year, is a pile of loosely held rocks. The news comes as Japanese scientists announce that the craft looks likely to make the return journey back to Earth.
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American scientists have found what appears to be a 480 kilometre-wide asteroid crater beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.
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Over the next few days astronomers will have a ringside seat to watch comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 as it disintegrates in front of their eyes.
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The remains of an asteroid that crashed into Earth creating a 160 kilometre-wide crater have been discovered in Africa. Large asteroids were previously thought to completely melt or vaporise on impact, but this finding proves fragments can survive impacts
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American researchers have discovered the remnants of the largest crater in the Saharan desert. The crater is around 31 kilometres wide, and may have been formed by an asteroid, tens of millions of years ago.
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Astronomers have discovered that a binary pair of �asteroids� orbiting near Jupiter are actually more like comets, and may have originated from the outer Solar System.
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A capsule containing cometary and interstellar material collected by the Stardust spacecraft successfully landed in Utah yesterday, becoming the first mission to return samples from beyond the Earth-Moon system.
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The Japanese Space Agency will postpone the return to Earth flight of Hayabusa to 2010, after losing contact with the probe. The announcement came shortly the Agency learnt that the second asteroid sample collection probably failed.
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Hayabusa's second attempt to collect a sample from the surface of Itokawa was successful, making it the first spacecraft to collect asteroid material.
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The Japanese space agency has announced that their spacecraft Hayabusa did in fact land on asteroid Itokawa on Saturday, but the equipment designed to collect a sample was not deployed.
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The Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft failed in its first attempt to collect a sample of material from asteroid Itokawa. The target marker, containing an aluminium sheet with hundreds of UK names printed on, was successfully deployed to the surface.
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last updated on 25/09/06
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