NASA telescope captures this brilliant cascade of stars in a distant galaxy

The brilliant cascade of stars through the middle of this image is ESO 318-13, a galaxy that lies millions of light-years from Earth. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured this edge-on view of the galaxy in 2012.

In this Hubble image, ESO 318-13 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. Interestingly, the extremely bright star located near the centre of the image is actually located in our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

There are also a number of tiny glowing discs scattered throughout the frame that are more distant galaxies. Peeking through the ESO 318-13, near the right-hand edge of this Hubble image, is a distant spiral galaxy.

A brilliant cascade of stars lights up the center of this portrait from @NASAHubble as a smattering of distant galaxies sparkle throughout the frame.Space sure is poetic: https://t.co/92xNsFAREP pic.twitter.com/qy7J7IaBlT

— NASA 360 (@NASA360) June 25, 2022

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The premium space-based observatory has been providing stunning high-resolution images of the cosmos at different wavelengths of light since 1990 and it has made more than 1.5 million observations over the course of its lifetime.