Humans have been looking to the sky to make sense of the world around us for thousands of years. Ancient cave paintings seem to show humans began using the position of the stars to keep track of time as early as 40,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence also indicates astronomy was one of the first natural sciences developed by many ancient civilizations.
Viewed in the right light, Christmas brings clarity to so much of what vexes the world. Consider how ridiculous the hubris of dictators and tyrants appears amid the endless sparkles of creation the James Webb Telescope has laid bare this year. Each tiny bright spot is a separate galaxy containing millions of stars and planets.
A distant cosmic object that has puzzled astronomers since 2005 has turned out to be the remains of a dying star that lost its outer layers in a massive supernova explosion.
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