CNN – World

By Katie Hunt, CNN A defunct NASA satellite has fallen back to Earth after 38 years orbiting the planet. The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, known as ERBS, was launched in 1984 aboard space shuttle Challenger. Until 2005, data from ERBS helped researchers investigate how Earth absorbed and radiated energy from the Sun, and measured ozone,

By Ashley Strickland, CNN Welcome to a new year, where fresh wonder already awaits. Rome has often been called the Eternal City. Ancient Romans took pride in their metropolis and viewed it as an unshakable pinnacle, and poets such as Virgil and Ovid made similar references in their works to perpetuate this idea. The imperial

By Ashley Strickland, CNN January’s full moon will light up the sky on Friday, and will be visible all around the world. It will reach peak illumination around 6:08 p.m. ET Friday, rising in the east as the sun sets in the US, according to EarthSky. The full moon is considered a micromoon because it

By Issy Ronald, CNN An Irish national is facing drug charges in Australia after allegedly importing about 120 grams (4.2 ounces) of cocaine inside six, internally concealed Kinder Surprise capsules, according to authorities. Inside milk chocolate Kinder Surprise eggs are non-edible, yellow capsules which each contain a small plastic toy. The man was taken to

By Ashley Strickland and Jackie Wattles, CNN This year promises to be out of this world when it comes to space missions, launches and the next steps in cosmic exploration. In 2023, NASA will kick off a trek to a metal world, a spacecraft will drop off unprecedented asteroid samples on Earth, a historic moon

By Ashley Strickland, CNN Astronomers glimpsed a stellar nursery in a new light, thanks to the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy in Chile. The VISTA telescope, located at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Antofagasta, Chile, observed the Sh2-54 Nebula in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. While visible

By Delia Gallagher, Niamh Kennedy and Emma Tucker, CNN Former Pope Benedict XVI, who died Saturday in a monastery in the Vatican at the age of 95, asked for forgiveness for those he has “wronged” in the spiritual testament published following his death. Benedict, who was the first pontiff in almost 600 years to resign

By Ashley Strickland, CNN This year was full of moments that remind us why we look at the stars and dig into the past. Wonder and curiosity are some of the most powerful traits humans have, and together, they drive us to ask questions that lead to untraveled roads filled with revelations. Researchers, explorers and

By Kendall Trammell, CNN Get out of your East Coast mentality, America. Not everyone starts their New Year when you do. The Pacific Island nations of Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati were the first to see in the new year — when it was still 5 a.m. on December 31 on the East Coast of the

By Ashley Strickland, CNN Stunning meteor showers, full moons and eclipses will light up the sky in 2023. The year is sure to be a sky-gazer’s delight with plenty of celestial events on the calendar. A comet discovered in March 2022 will make its closest approach to the sun on January 12, according to NASA.

By Ashley Strickland, CNN The tree of life grew in 2022 as California Academy of Sciences researchers and their international collaborators discovered 146 new animal, plant and fungi species. The previously unknown creatures and plants were found around the world, including the mountains of California, Australia’s Queensland state, the rocky peaks of Brazil and the

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN From a small island in Polynesia to the white-sand beaches of Florida, the planet experienced a dizzying number of climate and extreme weather disasters in 2022. Blistering summer heat broke records in drought-stricken China, threatening lives and food production. In the United States, drought and sea level rise clashed at the