
ALT A dense field of countless pinpoint stars fills the frame against the deep black of space, creating a fine, grainy texture like fine sand spread across a smooth table. Dozens of particularly bright stars in blue, yellow, and orange glitter across the scene like jewels. Wispy, grayish clouds of galactic dust drift across the center and right sides of the image, appearing soft and powder-like against the dark background. Scattered throughout the entire scene are stars and faint objects in shades of blue, yellow, and red. Some appear as sharp, solid points, while others are soft, diffuse smudges. Zooming in reveals that many of these tiny, faint smudges scattered between the stars are actually distant galaxies, varying from smooth, pebble-like blobs to faint, stretched lines.

ALT Golden spiral galaxy with blueish spiral arms in a dense star field. Numerous orange and blue stars dot the dark sky, with a bright bluish star left of center and faint background galaxies scattered throughout.

ALT A wide, panoramic view of a dense field of pinpoint stars filling the entire frame like fine dust. A white square notes a specific galaxy near upper center. Wispy, grayish-brown clouds of galactic cirrus drift across the scene, creating a subtle, patchy texture over the dark background. Several brighter stars stand out, most notably a large, brilliant blue star on the upper right surrounded by a soft glowing halo, along with a few other scattered bright blue and warm orange stars.

ALT An illustration of different ages of the universe. There are three panels, with one showing the universe 3.8 billion years ago, one 5.5 billion years ago, and one 13.7 billion years ago as the cosmic microwave background. The newest one has a dense blob showing a galaxy, the second oldest has a more diffuse blob, and the oldest shows how that blob evolved from a much more diffuse spread of matter.





























