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On its recent trip by comet Hartley 2, the Deep Impact spacecraft took the first pictures of, and flew through, a storm of fluffy particles of water ice being spewed out by carbon dioxide jets coming from the rough ends of the comet. The resulting images and data shed new light on the nature and composition of comets, according to the University of Maryland-led EPOXI science team, which has just announced its latest findings and released the first images of this comet created snowstorm.

Eighty-six days out from its appointment with a comet, NASA's Stardust spacecraft fired its thrusters to help refine its flight path. The Stardust-NExT mission will fly past comet Tempel 1 next Valentine's Day (Feb. 14, 2011). It will perform NASA's second comet flyby within four months.

"One comet down, one to go," said Tim Larson, project manager for both the Stardust-NExT mission and the EPOXI mission -- which successfully flew past comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4.

The EPOXI mission's recent encounter with comet Hartley 2 provided the first images clear enough for scientists to link jets of dust and gas with specific surface features. NASA and other scientists have begun to analyze the images.

People throughout the UK have reported seeing giant meteors showering the darkened skies.

The BBC was first contacted by eyewitnesses in Glasgow, Scotlandwell and Durness who said they saw the light display at about 0540 GMT.

Then stargazers from Bury, Monmouth and Kidderminster emailed to say they saw a meteor at about 1715 GMT.

It is thought the spectacle is part of the annual Taurids shower, lasting from October into November.

The early morning meteor is reported to have broken into a number of pieces and it left bright streaks of light in the sky.

Space agencies around the world are working to be ready to coordinate their response to any potentially harmful asteroid headed for Earth.

To help spearhead a world-class planetary defense against threatening near-Earth objects, the space experts are seeking to establish a high-level Mission Planning and Operations Group, or MPOG for short.

Veteran astronauts and space planners gathered here at the European Space Agency's European Space Operations Center Oct. 27-29 to shape the asteroid threat response plan and establish an Information Analysis and Warning Network.

For the first time, a spacecraft has landed on and returned samples from a celestial body other than the moon. This morning, ecstatic Japanese officials confirmed that dust retrieved from the capsule of its Hayabusa spacecraft did indeed come from the asteroid Itokawa and is not earthly contamination. The microscopic bits had been under investigation since the capsule landed in the Australian outback last June after a trouble-plagued, 7-year round trip to the lumpy, potato-shaped asteroid.

They say you can't judge a book by its cover but, with planets, first impressions do count. New images show where complex fault lines in Mars' Phoenicis Lacus region have resulted in terrain with a distinctly contrasting appearance. (see http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=32060 for image).

It has been a week of driving for Opportunity. She drove on five of the last seven sols and covered over 400 meters (1,312 feet). As the rover makes her way toward Endeavour crater, she is taking a path that passes by a set of small impact craters for some drive-by imaging.

On Sols 2403 (Oct. 27, 2010), 2404 (Oct. 28, 2010), and 2405 (Oct. 29, 2010), Opportunity drove 129 meters (423 feet), 44 meters (144 feet) and 89 meters (292 feet), respectively in roughly an East/Southeast direction with some pre- and mid-drive imaging to capture some of the impact craters along the way.

Chemists at UC San Diego have uncovered a new chemical reaction on tiny particulates in the atmosphere that could allow scientists to gain a glimpse from ancient rocks of what the atmospheres of the Earth and Mars were like hundreds of millions years ago.

Their discovery also provides a simple chemical explanation for the unusual carbonate inclusions found in a meteorite from Mars that was once thought by some scientists to be evidence of ancient Martian life.

November's celebrated meteors return for another dazzling show, but the Moon's light prevents ideal viewing.

As the days get colder and shorter, the return of the Leonid meteor shower grows closer as well. The annual shower lasts from November 10 through the 23rd and peaks before dawn November 17. Unfortunately, Full Moon arrives November 21, so its light will interfere with meteor watching until after midnight.