Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted

Jasmine 🌌🔭

@astrojaz.bsky.social

once again thinking about the fact that this is all just OUT THERE and we can only see it through the eyes of telescopes

$The background of space is black. Thousands of galaxies appear all across the view. Their shapes and colors vary. Some are various shades of orange, others are white. Most stars appear blue, and are sometimes as large as more distant galaxies that appear next to them. A very bright star is just above and left of center. It has eight bright blue, long diffraction spikes. Between 4 o’clock and 6 o’clock in its spikes are several very bright galaxies. A group of three are in the middle, and two are closer to 4 o’clock. These galaxies are part of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, and they are warping the appearances of galaxies seen around them. Long orange arcs appear at left and right toward the center.$ A massive cloud of gas and dust is seen in dark, dusty red, with its outer portions a translucent, ethereal gray. Several stars and distant galaxies are scattered throughout the image.