The asteroid's arrival was preceded by a damaging meteor event in Russia on Friday - but indications from the meteor's path suggest that the two events are entirely unrelated - just a "cosmic coincidence", as Alan Fitzsimmons of Queens University Belfast told BBC News.

BBC: Asteroid 2012 DA14 in record-breaking Earth pass

Its research was led by a team from University College Cork (UCC) but involved academics from five institutions, including Queens University in Belfast (QUB).

BBC: Overweight man measuring his waist

It emerged that, due to a reallocation of places for students from Great Britain, a further 308 places would go to Queens University, Belfast.

BBC: Employment and learning committee

Aston, Bath, Belfast Queens University, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, London Imperial College, London King's College, London School of Economics, London University College, Loughborough, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, St Andrews, Strathclyde, Warwick and York.

BBC: Students fear harsh jobs market