The Met Office has opened a new forecast centre dedicated to so-called “space weather”.

The term describes the disruptive influence that storms at the surface of the Sun can have at Earth.

The worst of these events can disturb satellites,

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NASA’s extensive fleet of science assets, particularly those orbiting and roving Mars, have front row seats to image and study a once-in-a-lifetime comet flyby on Sunday, Oct. 19.

Comet C/2013 A1, also known as comet Siding Spring, will pass within about 87,000 miles (139,500 kilometers) of the Red Planet —

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Just to be clear, Comet Halley is NOT reappearing 47 years early! There are a number of newspaper headlines trumpeting a huge event – it’s only in the small print that you discover that they are talking about the Orionid meteor shower this month!

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A few months ago, famed British cosmologist Stephen Hawking presented a lecture on the survival of the human race. According to him there is only one way for humanity to survive the next thousand years. We must get off the planet and colonize space.

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Add one to the entourage. A newly discovered asteroid called 2014 OL339 is the latest quasi-satellite of Earth – a space rock that orbits the sun but is close enough to Earth to look like a companion.

The asteroid has been hanging out near Earth for about 775 years and it will move on about 165 years from now,

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The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission will deploy its lander, Philae, to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Nov. 12.

Rosetta is an international mission spearheaded by the European Space Agency with support and instruments provided by NASA.

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A tiny fragment of Martian meteorite 1.3 billion years old is helping to make the case for the possibility of life on Mars, say scientists.

The finding of a “cell-like” structure, which investigators now know once held water,

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Spotting Earth-threatening asteroids is tough partly because the sky is so big. But insects offer an answer, since they figured out long ago how to look in many directions at once. As part of the global effort to hunt out risky celestial objects such as asteroids and comets,

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The small 20-m diameter NEA (about the same size as the Chelyabinsk meteor) flew by Earth on Sept 7, with a closest approach of 0.1 lunar distances. It is among the smallest known NEAs, and it was discovered just a week before close approach.

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Reports in the media over the weekend that a small meteorite impacted in Nicaragua have yet to be confirmed. A loud explosion was heard near Managua’s international airport Saturday night, and photos of a 24-meter (80-foot) crater have been circulated.

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