Welcome to issue 72!

Well, this is our final issue of 2017 – and what a year it's been! We've found out if the 'God Particle,' aka the Higgs boson, will destroy the universe, gone on a hunt for white holes, discovered what it'll be like on the surface of our planet before it falls into the Sun, lifted the lid on what really happened the day we landed on the Moon with an Apollo 11 exclusive and chatted to Brian Cox and Dara Ó'Briain about the top stargazing sights you need to observe. We also spoke to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about his thoughts on the cosmos (and, of course, why far-flung Pluto is not a planet!).

This month, we round off the year with an eclectic mix of revelations, probe into some terrestrial worlds, give you some more advice on what you can observe this December and look ahead to some unmissable space events in 2018. We meet the astrophysicists who believe dark matter doesn't really exist and that alternative theory MOND (that's Modified Newtonian dynamics) is our best chance of understanding the universe, get a look at the dark side of Venus and discover what the star of Bethlehem really was – just in time for Christmas. We also reveal the results of our image survey, which you, our readers, took part in – thank you for voting! Turn to page 48 for the results and let me know if your favourite hit the top spot?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - see you in January!