Best Space Photos of the Week - Oct. 22, 2011

Newborn Alien Planets, Comet Storms And Flights to Space

Karen L. Teramura, UH IfA

This week we caught the birth of an alien planet, excitedly watched a Russian rocket launch and got closer to going on vacation to space.

See some of the best space photos of the week of Oct. 21, 2011.

First Commercial Spaceport Hangar Dedicated in New Mexico

The operating hub for public space travel is being dedicated here today (Oct. 17), home base for pay-per-view suborbital treks out of Earth's atmosphere. [Full Story]

Saturn's Snowy Moon Enceladus Might Be a Skier's Paradise

NASA/ Processing by Paul Schenk (Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston)

Global and high resolution mapping of Enceladus confirms that the weather forecast for Saturn's unique icy moon is set for ongoing snow flurries. [Full Story]

Touring SOFIA: NASA Opens Doors to Airborne Observatory

Mike Wall

NASA recently opened the doors to its SOFIA flying observatory at the space agency's Ames Research Center in California. [Full Story]

Russian Space Capsule Touches Down at NYC Museum

Denise Chow/SPACE.com

The Soyuz spacecraft that returned space tourist Greg Olsen to Earth after his privately paid journey to the International Space Station was delivered via crane onto the deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum here in New York City today. [Full Story]

European Telescope Discovers Rare Ancient Star Clusters

ESO/D. Minniti/VVV Team

Two newly discovered globular clusters have been added to the total of just 158 known globular clusters in our Milky Way. They were found in new images from ESO’s VISTA survey telescope as part of the Via Lactea survey. [Full Story]

Russian Rocket Launches From South America in Space First

S. Corvaja/ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE

A Soyuz rocket blasted off this morning from South America, lofting to orbit the first two pieces of Europe's Galileo global positioning system. [Full Story]

Comet Storm Rages in Alien Star System, Study Finds

NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found evidence of a solar system experiencing a comet bombardment similar to the one that occurred around our own sun billions of years ago. [Full Story]

Skywatchers Find Striking View Deep in the Heart Nebula

Bob and Janice Fera

Skywatching enthusiasts Bob and Janice Fera took a spectacular image of the brilliant NGC 896 Emission Nebula, the brightest part of the Heart Nebula, between Sept. 26 and 27 at the Eagle Ridge Observatory, Foresthill, Calif. [Full Story]

Astronomers Spot Birth Of Alien Planet for First Time

Karen L. Teramura, UH IfA

Astronomers have discovered the youngest exoplanet ever found, spotting the alien world as it's coalescing from the dusty disk around its parent star, a new study reports. [Full Story]

Giant Space 'Bubble' Floats in Stunning Skywatcher Photo

Larry Van Vleet

A delicate-looking cosmic bubble shape appears to float inside a distant nebula in this stunning view captured by California-based skywatcher Larry Van Vleet. [Full Story]

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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.