Hubble Telescope Captures a Star Outshining an Entire Galaxy

NASA has once again amazed us with stunning images from space. Their latest release from the Hubble Space Telescope features a single star that outshines an entire galaxy in the constellation Lacerta (The Lizard).

NASA elaborates on this phenomenon, stating, “The star is a million times closer to us than the galaxy, which lies more than 45 million light-years away. This relative closeness is the only way a star can outshine an entire galaxy containing billions of stars.”

This star is known as a “foreground star,” and while it can be a bit of a nuisance by contaminating the light from more distant objects, it can also be useful. Through a technique called microlensing, the gravitational pull of a foreground star can amplify the light of a background star, providing clues about the nature of the foreground star and its planets.

The post featuring this image was shared a few hours ago and has already garnered over 300,000 likes and numerous comments. One user wrote, “This star that makes up space is very beautiful!” Another asked about the diffraction spikes in the image, while a third user expressed excitement about the advancements in space imagery.