While there are billions of galaxies in the universe, our powerful telescopes have only caught a glimpse of a fraction of these, with 14 in particular drawing worthy attention.
Asking how many galaxies there are in the universe won’t garner an easy answer, considering that we are largely limited to what we can see from down here on Earth and through our orbiting space telescopes.
While estimates of the number of galaxies could be as many as 200bn, it’s going to become harder and harder to see them if the latest scientific findings – which suggest the universe is expanding 9pc faster than we once thought – are accurate.
Catching a glimpse of the early universe
In the meantime, astronomers are still casting their collective gaze at some of the wonders out there and, regardless of how many new ones they find, are still mesmerised by the sheer variety of galaxies out there.
Also, by peering at the most distant ones, we are able to catch a glimpse of the birth of the universe.The galaxy currently recognised as most-distant reveals what our universe looked like 13bn years ago.
To that end, the team over at Futurism has selected 14 galaxies as some of the most incredible we’ve seen so far.
Click on the image below to get a closer look.
Sky at night image via Bryce Bradford/Flickr
