Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Compass and Scale Image of M31 PHAT+PHAST Mosaic

Photo mosaic of Andromeda galaxy and five regions of interest. A spiral galaxy spreads across the width. It’s tilted nearly edge-on to our line of sight, appearing as an extreme oval on its side. Its borders are jagged because the image is a mosaic of smaller, square images. The outer edges are blue, while the inner two-thirds are yellowish with a bright, central core. Dark, dusty clouds wrap around the outer half of the galaxy’s disk. At 10 o'clock, a smaller dwarf elliptical galaxy forms a fuzzy, yellow blob. There are about 200 million stars within the image. The background of space is black. There are what appears to be steps toward the bottom, mainly toward the middle, which indicates where no data were taken. Interesting regions: (a) Clusters of bright blue stars embedded within the galaxy; background galaxies seen much farther away; (b) NGC 206, a concentration of bright blue stars; (c) A young cluster of blue newborn stars; (d) The satellite galaxy M32; (e) Dark dust lanes across myriad yellow stars.

This is the largest photomosaic ever made by the Hubble Space Telescope. The target is the vast Andromeda galaxy that is only 2.5 million light-years from Earth, making it the nearest galaxy to our own Milky Way. Andromeda is seen almost edge-on, tilted by 77 degrees relative to Earth’s view. The galaxy is so large that the mosaic is assembled from approximately 600 separate overlapping fields of view taken over 10 years of Hubble observing—a challenge to stitch together over such a large area. The mosaic image is made up of at least 2.5 billion pixels. Hubble resolves an estimated 200 million stars that are hotter than our Sun, but still a fraction of the galaxy’s total estimated stellar population.

Interesting regions include: (a) Clusters of bright blue stars embedded within the galaxy, background galaxies seen much farther away, and photo-bombing by a couple bright foreground stars that are actually inside our Milky Way; (b) NGC 206 the most conspicuous star cloud in Andromeda; (c) A young cluster of blue newborn stars; (d) The satellite galaxy M32, that may be the residual core of a galaxy that once collided with Andromeda; (e) Dark dust lanes across myriad stars.

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

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    ACS
  • 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.
    M31, Andromeda Galaxy, NGC 224
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Spiral Galaxy
  • Release Date
    January 16, 2025
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Traces Hidden History of Andromeda Galaxy
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, Benjamin Williams (UWashington), Zhuo Chen (UWashington), L. Clifton Johnson (Northwestern); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Display), 7680 × 4320
    png (65.84 MB)
  • Full Res (For Print), 7680 × 4320
    tif (87.66 MB)
  • 2000 × 1125
    jpg (1.46 MB)
Photo mosaic of Andromeda galaxy and five regions of interest. A spiral galaxy spreads across the width. It’s tilted nearly edge-on to our line of sight, appearing as an extreme oval on its side. Its borders are jagged because the image is a mosaic of smaller, square images. The outer edges are blue, while the inner two-thirds are yellowish with a bright, central core. Dark, dusty clouds wrap around the outer half of the galaxy’s disk. At 10 o'clock, a smaller dwarf elliptical galaxy forms a fuzzy, yellow blob. There are about 200 million stars within the image. The background of space is black. There are what appears to be steps toward the bottom, mainly toward the middle, which indicates where no data were taken. Interesting regions: (a) Clusters of bright blue stars embedded within the galaxy; background galaxies seen much farther away; (b) NGC 206, a concentration of bright blue stars; (c) A young cluster of blue newborn stars; (d) The satellite galaxy M32; (e) Dark dust lanes across myriad yellow stars.
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

The Andromeda galaxy, a spiral galaxy, spreads across the width. It is tilted nearly edge-on to our line of sight so that it appears as an extreme oval on its side. The borders of the galaxy are jagged because the image is a mosaic of smaller, square images. The outer edges are blue, while the inner two-thirds are yellowish with a bright, central core. Dark, dusty filamentary clouds wrap around the outer half of the galaxy’s disk. At 10 o'clock, a smaller dwarf elliptical galaxy forms a fuzzy, yellow blob. Hubble's sharp vision distinguishes about 200 million stars within the image. The background of space is black. There are what appears to be steps toward the bottom, mainly toward the middle, which indicates where no data were taken.

Hubble M31 PHAT+PHAST Mosaic

This is the largest photomosaic ever assembled from Hubble Space Telescope observations. It is a panoramic view of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away. It took over 10 years to make this vast and colorful portrait of the galaxy, requiring over...

This video opens with the largest photomosaic ever assembled from Hubble Space Telescope observations. It is a panoramic view of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away. The spiral disk galaxy is inclined to our view, making it look elliptical. Young blue stars are around the outer rim. Yellowish older stars are toward the center. The bright hub of the galaxy looks like the center of a fried egg. It took over 10 years to make this vast and colorful portrait of the galaxy, requiring over 600 Hubble snapshots. This stunning mosaic captures the glow of 200 million stars. The camera zooms into the central portion of the galaxy, resolving a sea of myriad older stars. The camera pans along the galaxy's vast disk which is over 200,000 light-years across. The view is etched with dark dust clouds. The stellar population looks bluer as we move toward the galaxy's outer rim, rich in bright blue star clusters.

Andromeda M31 PHAST Mosaic Video

This video opens with the largest photomosaic ever assembled from Hubble Space Telescope observations. It is a panoramic view of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away. It took over 10 years to make this vast and colorful portrait of the galaxy,...

Share

Details

Last Updated
Mar 18, 2025
Contact
Media

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

Science Credit

NASA, ESA, Benjamin Williams (UWashington), Zhuo Chen (UWashington), L. Clifton Johnson (Northwestern)

Image Processing Credit

Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble Science Highlights

Hubble Images

Hubble News