... Strewn throughout the universe are "trees" of hydrogen gas that absorb light from distant objects. ... Globular star cluster Palomar 13 has roamed the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy for the last 12 billion years. The apparently sparse cluster of stars just left of center in this composite color digital image, it is one of the smallest, faintest globular clusters known. ... The above pictured open cluster, M11, contains thousands of stars and is just over five thousand light years distant. ...