This is Comet Leonard’s final blaze of glory before disappearing forever — and the rare celestial show is now something we share with our early human ancestors, who likely witnessed it 80,000 years ago.
No matter how different we may be, shared amazement is a true gift. While watching holiday movies with my family, I was surprised to hear that sentiment echoed in the 1947 film “The Bishop’s Wife.”
“We all come from our own little planets,” says Cary Grant’s character, Dudley. “That’s why we’re all different. That’s what makes life interesting.”
This year, all of us little planets revolved around awe-inspiring finds and discoveries. Reflect with the CNN Space and Science team as we look back on the year that was, while saluting our voyage into the future.
Defying gravity
The telescope lifted off from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket at 7:20 a.m. ET on Christmas Day.
The world’s next premier space observatory will be used to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and act as an infrared detective observing the earliest galaxies in the deep universe.
Webb could change our understanding of what occurred right after the Big Bang that created the universe — and ultimately determine how we got here and if we’re truly alone.
We are family
A skullcap introduced us to a completely new type of human, enigmatically known as the Dragon Man, who lived between 138,000 and 309,000 years ago.
Footprints in New Mexico that seem freshly made were actually imprinted in the Earth thousands of years ago. We even gleaned new insight about the fashion of our Stone Age forebears.
While cave dirt doesn’t sound like a haven of groundbreaking information, scientists have found that it harbors DNA from early humans that we could never hope to find otherwise — and it’s rewriting history.
A long time ago
Excavations and expeditions also revealed some of the oldest examples of cave art, ornamental gold masks and even fragments of a Dead Sea Scroll.
These are the kinds of finds that not only excite researchers, but can change history and how we understand it.
It’s eye-opening to see just how long humans have been making their creative mark on the world.
Climate changed
Come sail away with these Saildrones, which have set an open course for the rough seas.
The six unmanned vessels will spend half a year enduring some of the most hostile ocean conditions. The results could help scientists improve weather forecasting and models for climate change.
Across the universe
The Milky Way like we’ve never seen it before. Mysterious cosmic explosions reaching Earth. Stunning video of landing on Mars and the first powered flight on another planet.
We’re living in a golden age of discovery that has allowed us to get to know the universe a little bit better this year.
Astronomers uncovered secrets about extreme objects like black holes and found the very first planet outside of our galaxy. A spacecraft even “touched the sun.”
The wonder
Here are the headlines that caught our attention this week:
