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Vote Now! Top Space Stories of the Week - Oct. 21, 2012

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Tiniest Alien Solar System Discovered: 5 Packed Planets

Illustration by Karl Tate, SPACE.com

The most crowded alien planet system found yet possesses five worlds all orbiting a star 150 times closer than Earth does the sun, researchers say. [Full Story]

NEXT: Amateur Team Finds 'Tatooine' Planet with 2 Suns in 4-Star System

Amateur Team Finds 'Tatooine' Planet with 2 Suns in 4-Star System

Haven Giguere/Yale

Amateur astronomers have helped discover an alien planet with two suns and a twinkling twist: The entire twin-sun setup, a real-life version of Tatooine from "Star Wars," is orbited by two more stars — a solar system that is the first of its kind known. [Full Story]

NEXT: NASA's Cassini Probe at Saturn Celebrates 15 Years in Space

NASA's Cassini Probe at Saturn Celebrates 15 Years in Space

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft celebrated 15 years in space on Monday [Full Story]

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

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.