top 5 cellestial objects
TRAPPIST-1 - This is a whole star system but I'm counting them all. Absolutely magical place with seven planets around a star just barely larger than Jupiter. The entire system fits within the distance from Sol to Mercury. 3(!) of the planets are in the habitable zone, and all are roughly earth-like. They are so close to each other that you could see the other planets in their skies. It is older than our own solar system. It's just so much.
Phoenix A - The central black hole of the Phoenix Cluster. The sheer size of this thing makes me cry.
Quasi-stars (Black Hole Stars) - Does this count? They're theoretical, but whatever. Potentially the largest stars to have ever existed. Their cores would have been black holes, but maintained equilibrium between gravity and the black hole's outward radiation pressure. It's wild.
Einstein Cross - A gravitationally-lensed quasar forming a cross shape - you see the same image of it in 4 different positions due to light bending around a foreground galaxy!
The Pillars of Creation - It's a classic, but this is still one of my favourite things I've ever seen. There's something so emotional about images of this.
There's so much more I could put in here that it's genuinely so hard to pick five lmao
