For as long as we know, humanity has looked up at the sky and wondered about our place in this vast universe while marveling at the beauty of the stars.
As Carl Sagan said in Cosmos,"the size and age of the cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home."
This year was an especially big year for space observation and exploration.
In 2014 we've seen auroras transform the sky, been dazzled by solar eruptions, cheered as we landed on our first comet, and marveled at images of our fragile planet captured from other worlds.
James Woodend won the 2014 Astronomy Photography of the Year competition with this photo of a vivid green aurora in Iceland’s Vatnajökull National Park.
Source: These 12 Mind-Blowing Space Images Just Won A Photography Competition
NASA's Curiosity rover shared its very first picture of Earth from Mars. The photo was taken about 80 minutes after sunset on Jan. 31, 2014, NASA said. The rover tweeted the photo with the accompanying caption: "Look Back in Wonder... My 1st picture of Earth from the surface of Mars."
Source: Here's A Stunning View Of Earth From 99 Million Miles Away
On April 21, the Hubble telescope captured what looks like a black hole in Jupiter's Great Red Spot — but really, it's the shadow of the Jovian moon Ganymede.
Source: Hubble Snapped This Picture Of Jupiter With A Creepy 'Hole' In Its Great Red Spot
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