Glitter galaxy

The brilliant cascade of stars through the middle of this image is the galaxy ESO 318-13 as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Despite being millions of light-years from Earth, the stars captured in this image are so bright and clear you could almost attempt to count them. Although ESO 318-13 is the main event in this image, it is sandwiched between a vast collection of bright celestial objects. Several stars near and far dazzle in comparison to the neat dusting contained within the galaxy. One that particularly stands out is near the centre of the image, and looks like an extremely bright star located within the galaxy. This is, however, a trick of perspective. The star is actually in the Milky Way, our own Galaxy, and it shines so brightly because it is so much closer to us than ESO 318-13.
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