The week in pictures: December 10–16, 2011

This past seven days saw a comet survive a close encounter with the Sun, gamma rays detected around Tycho's supernova remnant, progress on understanding how early supermassive black holes formed, and more.
By | Published: December 16, 2011 | Last updated on May 18, 2023

“The week in pictures” highlights the amazing discoveries and cutting-edge research that resulted in magnificent photos and illustrations in the past week’s Astronomy.com News section. Scroll through the photos, comment on your favorites, and click links to learn more about the science behind the pictures. We hope “The week in pictures” will not only highlight all our beautiful universe has to offer but also summarize the important stories of the past seven days in case you missed anything.