In pictures: Looking back on a breathtaking year in space

From the launch of the James-Webb Space Telescope to the Artemis I lunar mission, including the first photograph of a supermassive black hole and the mission to deviate the trajectory of an asteroid,…

The very end of 2021 and the year 2022 will have been marked by decisive space discoveries.

After sending the most powerful space telescope ever designed into space, NASA has shared with us throughout the year shots all more unique and impressive than the others.

From the Jovian moons of Jupiter to the "Pillars of Creation", not to mention the deepest infrared image ever taken of the Universe, the American space agency has dazzled amateurs and seasoned astronomers alike.

The photograph of a supermassive black hole, as well as the success of the Artemis 1 test mission are other promising events in the understanding and "conquest" of these extraterrestrial lands.

In images, France 24 looks back on nine events that marked our perception of space.

December 25, 2021: the James-Webb space telescope takes off from Kourou

A year ago, on Christmas Day, the James-Webb telescope – the largest and most powerful ever sent into space – was launched from Kourou for a mission announced as revolutionary.

Designed to give a glimpse of the first moments of the Universe, this telescope, located nearly 1.5 million km from Earth, was encapsulated in an Ariane 5 rocket.

In one year of activity, it has provided several images that will go down in history and make 2022 one of the richest and most fascinating years for space research.

A supermassive black hole photographed for the very first time in the center of our galaxy

A team of international astronomers unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*, on May 12, three years after the first photo of a black hole in the distant and gigantic galaxy M87.

The existence of Sagittarius A* was detected in 1974 thanks to an unusual radio source at the heart of our galaxy.

This black hole has a mass of about four million suns and is 27,000 light-years from Earth.

Technically, you can't see a black hole, because the object is so dense and its gravitational force so powerful that not even light can escape from it.

But the scientists were able to observe distant and very faint objects thanks to a virtual reproduction of a kind of giant telescope.

The James-Webb Telescope delivers the deepest image of the Universe ever taken

After years of waiting, the first – breathtaking – image of the James-Webb telescope was unveiled on July 11 to the eyes of the world.

A first scientific and color image shows galaxies formed shortly after the Big Bang, more than thirteen billion years ago.

Six months after the most powerful space telescope ever was launched into orbit, US President Joe Biden hailed a "historic" day.

This snapshot is "the deepest and clearest infrared image ever taken of the Universe so far", NASA said.

The image, which is teeming with detail, was taken over an observation time of 12.5 hours.

It thus shows thousands of galaxies, at the heart of which certain structures "have never been seen before", adds the agency responsible for the major part of the civil space program of the United States.

The research work is therefore just beginning.

“Researchers will soon begin to learn more about the masses, ages, histories and compositions” of these galaxies.

The beauty of Jupiter revealed in never-before-seen photos

More gorgeous images.

And again thanks to James-Webb.

Images of Jupiter, taken a month earlier by the space telescope, were published on August 22 by NASA scientists.

Unexpected photographs that reveal the largest planet in the solar system as never before.

One shot is particularly spectacular: it shows auroras at the two poles of the planet, these luminous phenomena generated by solar storms, as well as two tiny Jovian moons (satellites around Jupiter), called Amalthea and Adrastea, on a scintillating background of galaxies , and its faintly luminous rings.

Dart mission: NASA manages to divert an asteroid from its trajectory

The NASA chief called the event a "decisive moment for planetary defense".

Thanks to kinetic energy, a probe launched by the American space agency managed, at the end of September, to divert an asteroid from its trajectory.

The Dart spacecraft traveled for ten months before colliding with Dimorphos, an asteroid 160 meters in diameter that was 11 million kilometers from Earth at the time of impact.

This unprecedented test mission was to allow humanity to learn how to protect itself from a possible threatening asteroid, according to NASA.

The James-Webb Telescope captures the awe-inspiring 'Pillars of Creation'

We no longer present him, and these images are still his work.

On October 19, the James-Webb Telescope revealed its first shot of the iconic 'Pillars of Creation', huge structures of gas and dust teeming with forming stars

The twinkling of thousands of stars illuminates the whole image, on which these gigantic brown and orange columns stand in the vastness of the cosmos.

At the end of several of the pillars, areas of intense red evoke lava.

These are "ejections of stars still in the process of development", only a few hundred thousand years old, NASA explained in a press release.

These "young stars periodically shoot out supersonic jets that collide with clouds of material, like these thick pillars."

The "Pillars of Creation" are located 6,500 light years from Earth, in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

Specifically, they are found in the Eagle Nebula.

NASA releases sound of giant meteorite impact on Mars

An audio recording of a magnitude 4 earthquake caused by the impact of a meteorite on the planet Mars was released on October 27.

Blocks of ice were thrown violently on the surface digging a crater about 150 meters in diameter and 20 meters deep.

It was the Insight probe and its seismometer, which landed on Mars almost four years ago some 3,500 kilometers from the site of the impact, which made it possible to detect the tremors.

The origin of this Martian tremor, which occurred on December 24, 2021, was only confirmed in a second time, by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft.

In orbit around the planet, it took pictures of the newly formed crater within 24 hours of the event.

The Artemis mega-rocket takes off for the first time to the Moon

After two failed attempts during the summer, NASA carried out, on November 16, the first test flight of its new mega-rocket to the Moon for the Artemis 1 mission.

Fifty years after the last Apollo mission, the Artemis mission will circle the Moon without landing there and without an astronaut on board to confirm that the vehicle is safe for a future crew.

It must mark the great beginning of a program which plans in particular to send the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.

The goal is to establish a lasting human presence there, in preparation for a trip to Mars.

December 11, 2022: after traveling around the Moon, the Orion spacecraft returns to Earth

After just over 25 days in space and orbiting the Moon, NASA's Orion spacecraft landed in the Pacific Ocean on December 11, ending the Artemis 1 test mission.

In total, the spacecraft has traveled more than 2.2 million kilometers in space since its liftoff on November 16, during the first flight of NASA's new mega-rocket, SLS.

Orion flew past the Moon just some 130 kilometers from its surface, and ventured over 430,000 km from our planet, farther than any previously habitable spacecraft.

Recovering the capsule was to allow the collection of a lot of decisive data for the following missions.

First by detailing the state of the ship after its trip, but also by analyzing the recordings of sensors of the accelerations and vibrations undergone on board, or the performance of an anti-radiation jacket.