A rare blue supermoon rises over Lake Michigan as spectators watch from Chicago's 31st Street beach Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
ACROSS AMERICA — As 2023 comes to a close, we're taking a look back at some of the events that made this year unique. We experienced plenty of exciting highs with Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, Barbenheimer, Kelce Bowl, and many more fun pop culture moments.
However, these exhilarating highs also came with sobering lows of the Israel-Hamas War, several mass shootings and constant wildfires that lingered in the air across the U.S.
The images that were captured to illustrate this year's events are palpable, striking, alluring and at times devastating. See the photos below of the most heartbreaking and breathtaking moments of the year.
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The sun rises over a hazy New York City skyline as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Canadian wildfires blanketed the northeastern U.S. in a haze, turning the air acrid, the sky yellowish gray and prompting warnings for vulnerable populations to stay inside. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)The moon passes between Earth and the sun during a rare "ring of fire" eclipse seen from Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Migrants navigated around concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande after crossing from Mexico into the U.S., Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. Concertina wire and newly place dbuoys were used as a floating barrier, making it more difficult and dangerous to cross the Rio Grande. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)Former President Donald Trump spoke with journalists during a midday break from court proceedings in New York City Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, as he attended the start of a civil trial in a lawsuit that already had resulted in a judge ruling that he committed fraud in his business dealings. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is launched from Launch Complex 39A, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA's Psyche spacecraft was set to travel to a metal-rich asteroid by the same name orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter to study it's composition. The spacecraft also carried the agency's Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration in a mission to test laser communications beyond the Moon.(Aubrey Gemignani/NASA via AP)From left, actor Joely Fisher,SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator, took part in a rally by striking writers and actors outside Netflix studio in Los Angeles on July 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce , left, celebrated with brother Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce after winning Super Bowl LVII 38-35 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. (John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock)People gathered for a weekly early morning swim meet-up at Montrose Harbor along the shore of Lake Michigan on Aug. 25, 2023, in Chicago. The event began during the pandemic with a small group of friends who first gathered for an early morning swim and then started meeting weekly. The meet-up now draws a large crowd of swimmers every Friday during the beach season. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)The marquee for the Los Feliz Theatre featuresdthe films "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie," Friday, July 28, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)New York Republican Rep. George Santos faced reporters at the Capitol in Washington, early Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. After a scathing report by the House Ethics Committee citing egregious violations, Santos was untimately expelled from Congress . (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)Construction workers viewed the scene of a collapsed elevated section of Interstate 95, Tuesday, June 13, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)People sign "I love you" while gathered at a vigil outside the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 29 to remember victims of a mass shooting on Oct. 25. Several members of the deaf community were among the dead. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)Taylor Swift performed during The Eras Tour" Monday, Aug. 7, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Swift was later named Time magazine's 2023 Person of the Year. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)A fighter jet flies near the remnants of a large balloon after it was struck by a missile over the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina near Myrtle Beach, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. The downing of the suspected Chinese spy balloon by a missile from an F-22 fighter jet created a spectacle over one of the state’s tourism hubs and drew crowds reacting with a mixture of bewildered gazing, distress and cheering. (Chad Fish via AP)After a rare snowstorm in Southern California, snow-covered San Gabriel mountain range are seen behind the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. (Ringo Chiu/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)Pro-Israel protesters carried the flag of Israel outside of the United Nations headquarters, where first responders were testifying on sexual assault and torture is presented by first responders in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, during a Dec. 4 demonstration. Israeli officials accused Hamas of committing widespread rape and sexual mutilation during the attack and demanded that the United Nations investigate and condemn sexual violence, particularly against women and girls. (Olga Fedorova/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)A makeshift memorial for Matthew Perry is seen outside the building shown in exterior shots of the television show "Friends" on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, in New York. Perry, who played Chandler Bing on NBC's "Friends" for 10 seasons, was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Saturday. He was 54. An autopsy later determined the cause of death was related to the “acute effects of ketamine.” (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
