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Amateur vs. Hubble image of Messier 32. The amateur image shows the entire galaxy appearing as a white oval outlined by an aqua ring against a black background dotted with stars. The Hubble image only shows one quarter of the galaxy in the upper-left corner, with the rest of the image revealing how the density of stars gradually falls off away from the galaxy.

Messier 32: Amateur Image vs. Hubble Image

Messier 32 (M32) is an elliptical galaxy located about 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. Messier 32 is a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). The left image was taken with an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope using a 0.63x focal reducer and a DSLR Camera. The right image was taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

Image Credit: Amateur Image: Photographed by and used with permission of K. Hartnett; Hubble Image: NASA, ESA, A. Crotts (Columbia University), W. Freedman (University of Chicago), and J. Westphal (California Institute of Technology); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
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