Looks can be deceiving

At first glance this looks like four luminous spots of light encircling a central pair, perhaps from six different galaxies. But this radiant light show is actually the product of two galaxies and one distant quasar.

The central points of light are two separate galaxies, and the four points of light circling them are from a single quasar, known as 2M1310-1714. This extremely luminous quasar is located far beyond the two galaxies in the centre, but via a process called gravitational lensing, we see this single quasar as four points of light.