Galaxies

These galaxy halos will make you feel infinitesimally small

by JoAnna Wendel

Shutterstock

The galaxies we observe with space telescopes seem to be surrounded by a cloud of fine dust.

Shutterstock

But these “halos” are actually made up of clusters of stars that can stretch many light years outward from the galaxy itself.

In fact, even though Earth’s closest galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, is 2.5 million light years away, recent research indicates its halo is now “bumping” into our Milky Way galaxy.

NASA, ESA, and E. Wheatley (STScI)

Here are 5 breathtaking galactic halos captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Galaxy NGC 7049 in the constellation of Indus, in the southern sky.

NASA, ESA and W. Harris (McMaster University, Ontario, Canada)

Disk galaxy NGC 5866 tilted nearly edge-on to our line-of-sight.

NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Elliptical galaxy MCG+04-28-097 in a galaxy cluster 2 billion light years away, with a halo of stars extending for more than 6.5 million light years.

NASA/ESA/Hubble

Elliptical galaxy ESO 325-G004 in a galaxy cluster 450 million light years away.

NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Elliptical galaxy Centaurus A, 10 million light years from Earth.

ESA/Hubble, NASA, Digitized Sky Survey, MPG/ESO/Davide de Martin

See more amazing space photos here.

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