The Earth is just too unusual a place, they insisted, with its stable orbit, nearby moon, watery surface, plate tectonics and unique position in the galaxy.

FORBES: We've Got Company

The researchers used data from the global network of solar monitoring telescopes (Gong) as well as the Soho satellite positioned in a stable orbit 1.6 million km (a million miles) closer to the Sun than the Earth.

BBC: Sun has strange 'spin cycle'

"In a nutshell, the plan in NASA's hands calls for catching an asteroid with a robotic spacecraft and towing it back toward Earth, where it would then be placed in a stable orbit around the moon, " read a statement from the office of Florida Sen.

CNN: Forget falling stars: NASA plans to catch an asteroid

NASA's slice of the pie includes a plan that would improve detection of near-Earth asteroids, send a solar-powered robot ship (like the NASA concept above) to capture one of the space rocks and tow it back to a stable orbit near Earth, where researchers could study it up close.

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