Highlights for February 2013, including information about the 2012 DA14 asteroid encounter.

Scientists estimate that every few hundred thousand years an asteroid capable of causing global catastrophe careens dangerously close to Earth. Yet asteroids are, in fact, incredibly useful objects by which to study the very beginnings of the Solar System.

What’s the difference between a comet and an asteroid? The distinction is hazy at best, thanks to the recent discovery of ice on an asteroid.

Late last month, an amateur astronomer in Australia discovered a new impact "scar" on Jupiter left by a comet or asteroid.