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Andromeda Galaxy

The left half of the disk of the Andromeda galaxy, with a jagged outer edge at the top and bottom on a black background. At right, the galaxy’s center is a horizontal yellow oval extending across about a third of the image. Two crescent shaped clumpy, dark dust lanes with abundant stars throughout extend out from the center. The galaxy becomes bluer as you move outward. At top middle, the satellite galaxy M32 appears as a small, fuzzy yellow oval. Within the disk of Andromeda, two regions at upper right and lower middle are outlined in small white boxes labeled 1 and 2, respectively. At the left side of the image, those two regions are enlarged in pullouts. Both contain a dense, grainy-appearing field of thousands of stars. Region 1 is noticeably bluer than region 2 and contains blue star-forming clumps.

Astronomers have divided imagery of the Andromeda galaxy taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope into thousands of squares 300 light-years on a side and determined the history of star formation within each parcel to gain a comprehensive view of the galaxy’s past. This image highlights two such regions.

Massive stars are bluer and short-lived, while less massive stars are redder and longer-lived. As a result, areas that have experienced recent star formation (1) tend to have a larger fraction of blue stars, while areas with less recent star formation (2) typically have a redder population.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    00:42
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +41:15
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Andromeda
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    2.5 million light-years

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    Data of M31 were obtained from the HST PHAT and PHAST Treasury proposals: P.I. J. Dalcanton and B. Williams (University of Washington) et al. 12058, 12073, 12109, 12107, 12074, 12105, 12113, 12075, 12057, 12111, 12115, 12071, 12114, 12072, 12056, 12106, 12059, 12108, 12110, 12112, 12055, 12076, 12070, 16778, 16778, 16796, 16796, 16797, 16797, 16798, 16798, 16799, 16799, 16800, 16800, 16801

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    ACS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    July 2010 - Dec 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F475W, F814W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Andromeda Galaxy
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Spiral Galaxy
  • Release Date
    July 27, 2026
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Shows Star Formation in Andromeda Galaxy Winding Down
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, Benjamin Williams (UWashington), Zhuo Chen (UWashington), L. Clifton Johnson (Northwestern); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Display), 8502 × 4935
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  • Full Res (For Print), 8502 × 4935
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  • Full Res (JPG), 8502 × 4935
    jpg (42.1 MB)
  • 2000 × 1161
    jpg (1.74 MB)
  • Unannotated Full Res (For Display), 8502 × 4935
    png (75.58 MB)
  • Unannotated Full Res (For Print), 8502 × 4935
    tif (120.06 MB)
  • Unannotated Full Res (JPG), 8502 × 4935
    jpg (42.9 MB)
  • Unannotated, 2000 × 1161
    jpg (1.28 MB)
The left half of the disk of the Andromeda galaxy, with a jagged outer edge at the top and bottom on a black background. At right, the galaxy’s center is a horizontal yellow oval extending across about a third of the image. Two crescent shaped clumpy, dark dust lanes with abundant stars throughout extend out from the center. The galaxy becomes bluer as you move outward. At top middle, the satellite galaxy M32 appears as a small, fuzzy yellow oval. Within the disk of Andromeda, two regions at upper right and lower middle are outlined in small white boxes labeled 1 and 2, respectively. At the left side of the image, those two regions are enlarged in pullouts. Both contain a dense, grainy-appearing field of thousands of stars. Region 1 is noticeably bluer than region 2 and contains blue star-forming clumps.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F475W (g) Yellow: F814W (I)

Related Images & Videos

On a black background, a pixelated, partial ring of bright pink and purple extends from 8 ou2019clock clockwise to 3 ou2019clock. There is a black gap at the bottom of the ring as well as in the middle. Below the ring, a timeline labeled millions of years ago lists the numbers 500, 200, 100, 50, 25, 0. The numbers 500 and 200 are yellow with a yellow line between them, indicating that the image shows the rate of star formation that was occurring in that timeframe.

Star Formation Rate in Andromeda Over Time

This movie, created from an analysis of data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, demonstrates how the rate of star formation in the Andromeda galaxy has declined over the past 500 million years.

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Details

Last Updated
Jul 27, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

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

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