The three panels show different components of near-infrared background light detected by the Hubble Space Telescope in deep-sky surveys. The one on the left is a mosaic of images taken over a 10-year period. When all the stars and galaxies are masked, the background signals can be isolated, as seen in the second and third panels. The middle panel reveals "intra-halo light" from rogue stars torn from their host galaxies, and the panel on the right captures the signature of the first galaxies formed in the universe.

NASA, ESA, and K. Mitchell-Wynne (University of California, Irvine)