Enormous Elliptical Galaxy ESO 306-17

ESO 306-17 is a giant elliptical galaxy located in the southern constellation Columbia, the Dove. This immense swarm of stars, measuring approximately one million light-years across, is fully ten times the size of our own galaxy. In this image, it appears that ESO 306-17 is surrounded by other galaxies nearby, but the bright ones at bottom left of the image are thought to be in the foreground, not at the same distance as ESO 306-17. The additional galaxies seen are likewise not near the giant elliptical but many thousands of light-years more distant. In reality, ESO 306-17 lies in a fairly empty volume of space. Astronomers believe that over time, ESO 306-17 has cleared its region of space by attracting and absorbing its smaller galactic neighbors.