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Lacerta’s Star Outshines a Galaxy

Hubble image of a star and galaxy in lacerta
ESA/Hubble & NASA

A little-studied star, TYC 3203-450-1, upstages a galaxy in this Hubble Space Telescope image from December 2017. Both the star and the galaxy are within the Lizard constellation, Lacerta. However, the star is much closer than the much more distant galaxy.

Astronomers studying distant objects call these stars “foreground stars” and they are often not very happy about them, as their bright light is contaminating the faint light from the more distant and interesting objects they actually want to study.

See more images from Hubble.

Text credit: European Space Agency

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Last Updated
Oct 04, 2023
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