Best Space Photos of the Week - Oct. 5, 2013

Private Cygnus Spacecraft Makes Historic 1st Rendezvous with Space Station

NASA TV

Orbital Sciences' first Cygnus spacecraft is seen nearing the International Space Station in this photo taken by an astronaut aboard the orbiting lab on Sept. 29, 2013, during the spacecraft's first rendezvous. [Read the Full Story]

SpaceX Launches Next-Generation Private Falcon 9 Rocket on Big Test Flight

SpaceX

Falcon 9 lifts off from SpaceX’s pad at Vandenberg, carrying Canada's CASSIOPE satellite to orbit. Launch took place on Sept. 29, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

Potentially Dazzling Comet ISON Spotted from Mars by Spacecraft

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

On Sept. 29, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera at Comet ISON and produced these new images of the possible 'comet of a century.' Image uploaded on Oct. 2, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

Latest Saturn Photos From NASA's Cassini Orbiter

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

Saturn's moon Titan's atmosphere creates a ring of light outlining the large moon. Image uploaded on Sept. 30, 2013. [See More Photos by the Cassini Spacecraft]

Solar Fallout from Sun Eruption Crashes Into Earth

SOHO/NASA/ESA

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft captured this view of an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection erupting from the sun on Sept. 30, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

Explosive Supervolcanoes May Have Rocked Ancient Mars

NASA/JPL/GSFC/Arizona State University

This image shows digital elevation data overlaid on daytime thermal infrared images of Eden Patera, the type example of an ancient supervolcano on Mars. Red colors are relatively high and purple-gray colors are low. Image released Oct. 2, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

NASA Finds Most Crowded Galaxy Ever Seen

Chandra X-Ray Observatory ACIS

M60-UCD1 (inset) is the densest galaxy found to date. It is near the much larger galaxy NGC 4649 and about 54 million light-years from Earth. [Read the Full Story]

Giant Radio Telescope Reaches Full Power with 66 Antennas

ESO/M. Marchesi

The final antenna for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile is delivered on Sept. 30, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

Northern Lights: Amazing Aurora Photos of 2013

Göran Strand

Astrophotographer Göran Strand sent in a photo of an auroral display over a small town in Sweden, taken Oct. 1, 2013. [See More Great Northern Lights Photos from 2013]

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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.