compiled by Michael Wright and David Kaplan

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Breaks Solar Power Distance Record
NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter has broken the record to become humanity’s most distant solar-powered emissary. The milestone occurred at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST, 19:00 UTC) on Wednesday, Jan. 13, when Juno was about 493 million miles (793 million kilometers) from the sun.

Bow waves betray dozens of runaway stars
Researchers identify dozens of fast-moving stars in the Milky Way by combing the galaxy for the curved waves of material they plough before them.

Event horizon snapshot due in 2017
A global network of nine radio telescopes is set to take the first ever picture of a black hole’s event horizon in 2017.

Largest ever ‘age map’ traces galactic history
By measuring the age of 70,000 stars across the Milky Way, astronomers make a “growth chart” for our galaxy.

‘Case is made’ for Anthropocene Epoch
The evidence suggesting we have entered a new geological epoch defined by humanity’s impact on the Earth is now overwhelming, believes an international scientific panel.

The Secret City of the Cosmonauts
From the 1940s to the 1990s, the secretive USSR created a massive constellation of ghost geography. Hundreds of cities. In one of these secret cities, established in 1960 and known as “Military Unit 26266 in closed townlet number one,” young Russians were trained to be launched into the skies and beyond. Star City, located just east of Moscow, became the home of the Cosmonauts.

Runaway Stars Leave Infrared Waves in SpaceAstronomers are finding dozens of the fastest stars in our galaxy with the help of images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

Found: Four New Elements
At the tail end of 2015, the periodic table gained four new members—elements 113, 115, 117, and 118. But blink and you’d definitely miss them.