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Halo Around the Andromeda Galaxy Illustration

Halo Around the Andromeda Galaxy Illustration
This illustration shows the location of the 43 quasars scientists used to probe Andromeda’s gaseous halo. These quasars—the very distant, brilliant cores of active galaxies powered by black holes—are scattered far behind the halo, allowing scientists to probe multiple regions. Looking through the immense halo at the quasars’ light, the team observed how this light is absorbed by the halo and how that absorption changes in different regions. By tracing the absorption of light coming from the background quasars, scientists are able to probe the halo’s material.
  • Release Date
    August 27, 2020
  • Science Release
    Hubble Maps Giant Halo Around Andromeda Galaxy
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, and E. Wheatley (STScI)

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M31 Halo Illustration over Rocky Terrain

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At a distance of 2.5 million light-years, the majestic spiral Andromeda galaxy it is so close to us that it appears as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky. If its gaseous halo could be seen with the naked eye, it would be about three times the width of the Big...

Graph titled “M31 Halo Radial Velocity” showing absorption by carbon four and silicon three gas on the y-axis versus motion towards observer on the x-axis

M31 Halo Radial Velocity

This diagram shows the light from a background quasar passing through the vast, gaseous halo around the neighboring Andromeda galaxy (M31), as spectroscopically measured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The colored regions show absorption from two components that make up the halo....

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Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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