PHP for checking SSL Certificate Authority

[Nexus]

I'm not clear on the technical issues involved, but does anyone know if it is possible to read information about a website's SSL certificate via PHP (with or without cURL?)

Basically, when I get to a secure website via http, regardless of whether I make a successful *secure* connection, I can view information from that website in my browser about the issuing authority, when the certificate expires, etc, etc (on IE, its by double clicking on the lock in the corner).

Does anyone know if it is possible to get this information via PHP? Basically I want to create a scripting class that can automatically check a website and tell me what SSL cert it currently uses (if any), who is the issuing authority (Verisign, Comodo, etc) and when that cert expires. If I get the information in some discernable format, I'd just parse out what I need.

I'm not looking to actually *make* a secure connection, but to "check" information about the host server in question. I've checked the headers, and did not see anything there. I know fopen makes vanilla tcp connections, so I'm not clear if I can get anywhere with that.

Thanks,
~ Nexus