The European Southern Observatory has released a new image of galaxy NGC 6744, which is about 30 million light-years away, taken with a "Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope." Basically, it looks just like the Milky Way. Here's what the ESO about the picture:

This week, the Winter Solstice lunar eclipse captivated the world with its once-in-400-years beauty. But the Universe has other cool stuff, too—the Milky Way, for example. Inside, a recent—and stunningly beautiful—time-lapse of the Galaxy over Nevada's Lake Tahoe.

The Hubble has spotted a "hypervelocity star" (known as HE 0437-5439) ditching the Milky Way at 1.6 million miles an hour. It's not headed toward earth, which is a relief, because what the hell could you do about it? [CBS]

In all the messiness of life's day-to-day, one tends to forget the majesty that is the universe on a grand scale. Let this stunning time-lapse of the Milky Way over Hawaii remind you of your insignificance.