NGC 6384: Spiral Beyond the Stars

Explanation: The universe is filled with galaxies . But to see them astronomers must look out beyond the stars of our own galaxy, the Milky Way . This colorful Hubble Space Telescopic portrait features spiral galaxy NGC 6384, about 80 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus . At that distance, NGC 6384 spans an estimated 150,000 light-years, while the Hubble close-up of the galaxy's central region is about 70,000 light-years wide. The sharp image shows details in the distant galaxy's blue star clusters and dust lanes along magnificent spiral arms, and a bright core dominated by yellowish starlight. Still, the individual stars seen in the picture are all in the relatively close foreground, well within our own galaxy . The brighter Milky Way stars show noticeable crosses, or diffraction spikes , caused by the telescope itself.