Tag Archive for 'Messier 31'

This new composite image of the Andromeda galaxy includes X-rays from Chandra and XMM-Newton (represented in red, green, and blue); ultraviolet data from GALEX (blue); optical data from astrophotographers using ground based telescopes (Jakob Sahner and Tarun Kottary); infrared data from Spitzer, the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, COBE, Planck, and Herschel (red, orange, and purple); and radio data from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (red-orange). Image credit: NASA.

New Image Shows Andromeda Galaxy as We’ve Never Seen It Before

Jun 27, 2025 by News Staff

Using data from several space- and ground-based telescopes, NASA astronomers have captured a stunning new image of the Andromeda galaxy, which is the closest...

The Andromeda galaxy is seen almost edge-on, tilted by 77 degrees relative to Earth’s view; 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 is 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 the Andromeda galaxy; (e) dark dust lanes across myriad stars. Image credit: NASA / ESA / B. Williams, University of Washington.

Hubble’s Photomosaic of Andromeda Galaxy Unveils Hundreds of Millions of Stars

Jan 20, 2025 by News Staff

A century ago, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble first established that this so-called ‘spiral nebula’ was approximately 2.5 million light years...

Dey et al. uncovered striking new evidence for a mass migration of stars into the Andromeda galaxy. Image credit: KPNO / NOIRLab / AURA / NSF / Local Group Survey Team / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage / D. de Martin / M. Zamani.

Galactic Immigration Event Occurred in Andromeda Galaxy 1-2 Billion Years Ago

Feb 8, 2023 by News Staff

The Andromeda galaxy (Messier 31), which is located 2.5 million light-years away, is the Milky Way’s nearest large galactic neighbor. By measuring the...

Graphic showing the orbit of stars around a supermassive black hole before, left, and after, right, a gravitational kick. Image credit: Steven Burrows / JILA.

Astronomers Solve Mystery of Strangely-Shaped Mass of Stars in Andromeda Galaxy’s Center

Nov 3, 2021 by News Staff

The Andromeda galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy 2.5 million light-years from Earth. Otherwise known as Messier 31, it hosts a double nucleus, which is well-explained...

An image of the Andromeda Galaxy from the Sardinia Radio Telescope after averaging over the whole bandwidth at 6.6 GHz. Image credit: Fatigoni et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202040011.

Sardinia Telescope Captures Most Detailed Radio Image Ever Seen of Andromeda Galaxy

Jul 30, 2021 by News Staff

Using the Sardinia Radio Telescope, a 64-m fully steerable radio telescope near San Basilio, Sardinia, Italy, an international team of astronomers has...

The globular cluster RBC EXT8. Image credit: ESASky / CFHT.

Astronomers Find Extremely Metal-Deficient Globular Cluster in Andromeda Galaxy

Oct 16, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) on the Keck I telescope at W. M. Keck Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope...

Andromeda Galaxy Swallowed Many Dwarf Galaxies During Its Lifetime

Oct 5, 2019 by News Staff

An analysis of data from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PAndAS) has uncovered two major episodes of accretion, probably separated by billions...

Andromeda Galaxy Merged with Massive Neighbor 2 Billion Years Ago

Jul 24, 2018 by News Staff

The Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31, collided and merged with a large galaxy approximately 2 billion years ago, according to new research. Even...

Swift J0042.6+4112 is brighter at high energies than the Andromeda galaxy’s entire black hole population. The inset image shows the pulsar candidate in blue, as seen in X-ray light by NASA’s NuSTAR mission. The background image of the Andromeda galaxy was taken by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer in UV light. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSFC / JHU.

Astronomers Solve Mystery of Andromeda’s Hard X-Rays

Mar 28, 2017 by News Staff

The Andromeda galaxy (also known as Messier 31) features a dominant source of hard X-rays, but its identity was mysterious until now. An international...

NASA’s Fermi telescope has detected a gamma-ray excess (shown in yellow-white) at the center of the Andromeda galaxy that’s similar to a signature Fermi previously detected at the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Scientists think the signal could be produced by a variety of processes, including a population of pulsars or even dark matter. Image credit: NASA / DOE / Fermi LAT Collaboration / Bill Schoening / Vanessa Harvey / REU Program / NOAO / AURA / NSF.

Fermi Finds Dark Matter Clues in Andromeda Galaxy

Feb 22, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Fermi telescope has detected a strong gamma-ray signal coming from the core of the Andromeda galaxy (also known as Messier 31) that could indicate...

This diagram shows how scientists determined the size of the halo of the Andromeda Galaxy. Because the gas in the halo is dark, astronomers measured it by using the light from distant quasars. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Field, STScI / N. Lehner & J.C. Howk, University of Notre Dame / B. Wakker, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

NASA’s Hubble Sees Huge Gaseous Halo around Andromeda Galaxy

May 8, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that a nearly invisible halo of hot plasma...

Hot stars burn brightly in this image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, showing the UV side of a familiar face. At 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda galaxy is our Milky Way's largest galactic neighbor. The galaxy spans 260,000 light-years across. The bands of blue-white making up the galaxy's striking rings are neighborhoods that harbor hot, young, massive stars. Dark blue-grey lanes of cooler dust show up starkly against these bright rings, tracing the regions where star formation is currently taking place in dense cloudy cocoons. Eventually, these dusty lanes will be blown away by strong stellar winds, as the forming stars ignite nuclear fusion in their cores. Meanwhile, the central orange-white ball reveals a congregation of cooler, old stars that formed long ago. When observed in visible light, the galaxy’s rings look more like spiral arms. The UV image shows that these arms more closely resemble the ring-like structure previously observed in infrared wavelengths with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope; astronomers interpreted these rings as evidence that the galaxy was involved in a direct collision with its neighbor, Messier 32, more than 200 million years ago. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

New Study Reveals Turbulent History of Andromeda Galaxy

Jan 12, 2015 by News Staff

A study of the motions of different stellar populations in the Andromeda’s disk has revealed a violent history of mergers with dwarf galaxies in the...

Andromeda Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / University of Washington / PHAT team / J. Dalcanton / B. F. Williams / L. C. Johnson / R. Gendler.

Astronomers Snap Sharpest, Biggest Image Ever of Andromeda Galaxy

Jan 10, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has obtained the sharpest image ever taken of our galactic...