Three examples of 'Red Nugget' Galaxies (IMAGE) Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian Caption This series of photos shows three "red nugget" galaxies at a distance of about 4 billion light-years, and therefore seen as they were 4 billion years ago. At left, a lonely one without companion galaxies. The one in the middle is alone as well, although it appears to be next to a larger spiral galaxy. That blue spiral is actually much closer to us, only one billion light-years away. Finally, the red nugget on the right might have some companion galaxies residing nearby. Credit Ivana Damjanov & CFHT MegaCam Team Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.