APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
The X-ray Sources of M31
Explanation: Just like our own Milky Way Galaxy , the nearest major galaxy M31 has many star systems spewing high energy radiation . High energy X-radiation is visible to certain satellites in Earth orbit such as ROSAT - which took the above picture. The X-ray sources in M31 occur in globular clusters , the spiral arms , and near the galaxy's center. Probably most of these sources are accretion disk binary star systems . M31 has more X-ray sources near its center than our Galaxy, and the reason for this is currently unknown.
| Date | December 31, 1995 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: ROSAT, MPE, NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |



