Hear what the sound is like on Jupiter's moon 1:03
(CNN) ––
This year, we got to know our universe a little better.
Space discoveries in our solar system helped us become more familiar with planets like Mars and Venus.
Light waves also came from all over the cosmos to reveal old stories and show new phenomena.
Juno flyby reveals stunning new images of Jupiter and the sounds of its moon Ganymede
We welcomed new worlds that expand our understanding of the planets beyond our little cosmological neighborhood.
Extreme celestial objects, such as black holes, uncovered some of their secrets and invited researchers to explore more.
An element was even detected in our teeth in a distant galaxy.
Which shows that "we are made of stellar matter", as the astronomer Carl Sagan once said.
Star breaks record when approaching a black hole 0:57
These are some of the space discoveries we made in 2021.
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The mystique of the red planet
NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter in April, before its maiden flight, which was also historic.
No planet received more attention this year than Mars.
In February, three different missions from three different countries reached the red planet.
Since then, we have followed the stories of the United Arab Emirates' Hope probe, the Zhurong rover on China's Tianwen-1 mission, and NASA's Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter.
Perseverance rover makes 'completely unexpected' volcanic discovery on Mars
Together, in addition to other missions moving towards and around Mars, they have changed the way we observe and understand our planetary neighbor.
Different spacecraft searched for organic salts, spied colored clouds and found "significant amounts of water" in the massive version of the Grand Canyon of Mars.
Why thank the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars?
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While the Perseverance rover recorded video of its own landing, created oxygen on Mars, and collected the first samples that will eventually be returned to Earth, the Ingenuity helicopter has made and continues to make history with its innovative ability to function as an aerial rover rover. .
Even, long after his first action of controlled and motorized flight on another planet.
Take a walk around the Sun, one of the space discoveries
This illustration shows the Parker solar probe approaching the Sun.
This year, humans "touched the Sun" for the first time using a spacecraft: the Parker Solar Probe.
Since its launch in 2018, the mission has approached the Sun. This year, the Parker probe came closer than ever to our star and entered its outer atmosphere for the first time.
It flew close to flow structures in the scorching corona, or upper atmosphere, and helped scientists determine that intriguing zigzags, called curves, may come from the sun's surface.
Mercury, Venus and Jupiter
Other planets shared the spotlight with Mars this year, as various space missions flew by Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter.
Scientists solve mystery of the Northern Lights on Jupiter 40 years later
Very little is known about Mercury because it is the closest planet to the Sun, making it difficult to observe.
The European-Japanese probe BepiColombo made a close flyby of the planet in October.
It took pictures of Mercury that could reveal more about its history, surface, and atmosphere.
This will be the BepiColombo overflight on Mercury 0:46
The Parker solar probe passed Venus during one of its loops while spiraling closer to the Sun. On that journey it took photos and even detected a radio signal from the Venusian atmosphere.
This year, scientists also discovered that Venus may still be an active planet and got clues as to why it turned out to be a toxic and inhospitable planet instead of becoming like Earth.
Future missions from NASA and the United Arab Emirates that will explore the planet further were also announced.
New NASA images of Jupiter show surprising features of the planet's atmosphere
Images and data from the Juno mission continue to rewrite the manuals about Jupiter and its moons.
The spacecraft shared detailed photos of Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the object of Juno's close flyby during the summer, and even sounds from its atmosphere.
Juno also got closer to Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot to understand more about this centuries-long storm.
Incredible images of Ganymede, the moon of Jupiter 0:32
Along the Milky Way
Strands of superheated gases and magnetic fields weave a tapestry of energy in the center of the Milky Way.
Our solar system is in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way.
But, we are far from fully understanding that brilliant grinder.
During the year, we learned that the Milky Way is a center of unusual activity.
Researchers detected strange radio waves, observed "violent energy" and spied on a flickering star, all in the heart of the galaxy.
Strange radio waves coming from the heart of the Milky Way baffle scientists
A Finnish astrophotographer completed a scintillating mosaic of the Milky Way after 12 years, while scientists mapped a wave of stars at the edge of the galaxy.
Radio bursts hit Earth
And speaking of strange radio signals, scientists discovered hundreds of mysterious fast radio bursts thanks to a Canadian telescope.
Astronomers first detected fast radio bursts in 2007. But only about 140 have been recorded in the entire universe ... Until this year.
They trace mysterious fast radio bursts to the arms of spiral galaxies
Although the origin of these millisecond-long bursts in space is unknown, detecting 535 new ones could help scientists map the universe and determine where and how they are created.
More than 1,000 cosmic explosions can be traced back to a single fast repeating radio burst.
Radio signal detected in galaxy 1:17
In 2021, an international team of astronomers traced some of the explosions to the arms of very distant spiral galaxies.
And giant radio pulses and waves of X-rays were found coming from the hauntingly beautiful Crab Nebula.
Violence in the universe
This rare giant star that the Hubble telescope photographed is trying not to self-destruct.
This year a new type of supernova was discovered, which opens a unique window into the violent life cycle of stars.
The research, focused on supernova 2018zd, confirmed a prediction made by an astronomer more than 40 years ago.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured a rare giant star fighting self-destruction.
The star AG Carinae, located 20,000 light years from Earth, experiences explosive convulsions that created its distinctive halo.
Which, precisely, was beautifully photographed by Hubble this year.
Astronomers discover a new type of supernova
For the first time, astronomers witnessed the death of a distant galaxy.
Galaxies die when the stars that live in them stop forming.
Scientists were able to get a glimpse of a galaxy when it expelled almost half of the gas it uses to create stars.
Vibrant asteroids and buzzing comets
Astronomers also discovered some extreme versions of asteroids and comets throughout the solar system this year.
New photos revealed the most detailed observations yet of asteroid 216 Kleopatra, an asteroid with two moons that looks a lot like a dog bone.
Best photo of Cleopatra, bone-shaped asteroid 0:56
Then the asteroid with the fastest orbit in our solar system was discovered.
Precisely, an asteroid that completes an orbit around the Sun every 113 days and approaches 20 million kilometers from our star.
Astronomers capture asteroid 'dog bone' in new photos
And prepare your telescopes for 2031. That year we will have the opportunity to see the largest comet ever known, as it flies alongside our Sun. It is about 1,000 times more massive than others.
Pac-Man black holes, another of the great space discoveries
Astronomers detected an unusual set of X-ray rings around a black hole.
Black holes were once thought to be invisible.
But images showing the rotating magnetic field of a supermassive black hole, ghostly rings around a black hole, and the first light detected behind one of these extreme objects illuminated our perspective.
The first evidence of a black hole acting like Pac-Man, while devouring a neutron star, revealed a theorized but incredibly strange celestial event.
Shocking: this is how two black holes erupt 0:43
A supermassive black hole was also observed simply moving through space.
And this year a record gravitational wave "tsunami" was detected.
Most of which occurred when black holes merged billions of years ago and created ripples in spacetime.
Beyond the exoplanets
Astronomers identified a new class of habitable planets called 'Hycean' planets, which are hot worlds covered by oceans.
Imagine a strange world and it probably exists among the strange and wonderful exoplanets that researchers discovered this year.
Exoplanet with 'impossible' characteristics discovered 0:41
They found a hot planet where liquid iron rains from the sky.
Another planet with an 8 hour year.
Also a Jupiter-like planet that orbits some of the hottest stars ever found.
A world orbiting a dead star that could predict our destiny, and even where moons can form around alien worlds.
The researchers zoomed in on worlds that may have seen our planet evolve over time and took a look at planetary atmospheres.
A year on this exoplanet lasts just eight hours
They found a new class of exoplanets, called Hycean planets, which are hot ocean worlds that could host life.
Most exciting of all, scientists may have detected the first planet discovered outside of our galaxy.
The possible exoplanet was found in the Whirlpool Galaxy, some 28 million light years distant, thousands of times farther than those in the Milky Way.
Black Holes Discovery Marterover Perseverance
