"Each dot is an entire galaxy containing billions of stars... The galaxies seen in this image are all in the distant Universe and appear as they did 10-12 billion years ago. They are colour coded in blue, green, and red to represent the three wavebands used for Herschels observation. Those appearing in white have equal intensity in all three bands and are the ones forming the most stars. The galaxies shown in red are likely to be the most distant, appearing as they did around 12 billion years ago." ([Source](https://www.herschel.caltech.edu/image/nhsc2010-008a ))
And, yes, the image does look like a picture of a 1970's brown carpet.
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@johnnylogic I thought at first that the image was the top view of a very dense forest.
