NASAs Dawn spacecraft has produced a close up study of the asteroid, Vesta – see www.physorg.com/print246526715.html. Vesta has a diameter of around 330 miles but surprisingly has a core, a mantle, and a crust – which seems more like a planet than an asteroid (see also www.nasa.gov.dawn )
Meanwhile, at http://io9.com/5878554/russian-scientist-claims-to-have-discovered-life-… there is a story that is worth reading if only out of curiosity as a Russian astronomer claims to have detected signs of life on Venus – it is even published in a journal, Solar System Research.