10 million stars - A small slice photo of our galaxy's "bulge"

[packman]

At the site below, you can zoom into a particular section of the above -

https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2027a/zoomable/

or:

https://twistedsifter.com/2020/11/there-are-10-million-stars-in-this-photo/

[Biophilic]

1. Holy smoke. That is a bit brain busting. Thanks, I think. nt

[Fla Dem]

2. No idea what a galaxy bulge is, so looked it up.

Thanks for helping me learn something new and awesome!

In astronomy, a galactic bulge (or simply bulge) is a tightly packed group of stars within a larger star formation. The term almost exclusively refers to the central group of stars found in most spiral galaxies (see galactic spheroid). Bulges were historically thought to be elliptical galaxies that happened to have a disk of stars around them, but high-resolution images using the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed that many bulges lie at the heart of a spiral galaxy. It is now thought that there are at least two types of bulges: bulges that are like ellipticals and bulges that are like spiral galaxies.


Artist's impression of the central bulge of the Milky Way

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_bulge