See this? This a public domain shot from the hubble telescope. Those brighted 'stars' are 6 close galaxies who's gravity is creating a visual lens magnifying the galaxies behind it.

(image in the extended entry)

See this? This is part of the same area of space, a postage-stamp sized area from the above, zoomed-in. Keep in mind at this distance, individual stars are almost invisible, every point of light you see is an entire galaxy.

And the entire thing takes up about as much space in the sky from our pov as a dot from a pencil held at arms length.

It's a big universe out there, Charlie Brown. Isn't it?

Posted by Q99 at July 2, 2004 06:48 PM