If you’ve ever looked up into the night sky and seen a bedazzlement of stars, you know awe: the rare moment that bewilderment feels good. The scale of the universe and huge diversity of the objects within it never fails to inspire amazement.
This year, we got to see some of those objects in newfound resolution and vibrance. State-of-the-art technologies—especially the recently launched ones Webb Space Telescope—have revolutionized our view of the cosmos and allowed scientists to peer further back in time, at some of the faintest light in the universe.
Here are some of the images that captured our attention in 2022.