The stars look so spread out because MEL 111 is one of the closest star clusters to Earth. It is in our Milky Way galaxy, at only 250 lights years away, about 1,500 trillion miles. By contrast, the other galaxies that make up our universe are much more distant. Just to the left of the bottom-most star in the cluster is one of the most interesting galaxies in the sky, marked 4565 on the right star map. It is about 20 million light years away, about 800,000 times more distant than the star cluster.
Galaxies are lens-shaped collections of billions of stars.
Seen from the top, they look a lot like a whirlpool or child's pinwheel. Seen from the side, they look like two plates pressed top to top. In a medium-sized scope, it is the most beautiful splinter of light you will ever see. In fact, the whole area is littered with galaxies of various sizes, shapes, and brightnesses. Sweep the area carefully with a telescope and you'll see what I mean.