Galaxies Aplenty

Thousands of galaxies crowd this Hubble Space Telescope image, which required hundreds of hours of observations to compile. The galaxies range from tens of millions to billions of light-years away, and the sample includes graceful spirals, giant ellipticals, and galaxies that are being ripped apart by gravitational encounters with others. The field of view, however, is tiny, covering less than 10 percent the apparent width of the Moon. You could easily cover these galaxies and many thousands more with the tip of your little finger. [NASA/ESA/H. Teplitz, M. Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech)/A. Koekemoer (STScI)/R. Windhorst (Arizona State)/Z. Levay (STScI)]