In-Depth 417-Megapixel Panoramic View of Andromeda Galaxy Highlights Over 200 Million Stars
Since its introduction in 1990, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has significantly enhanced our comprehension of the cosmos, capturing visuals of planets within our solar system as well as galaxies situated billions of light-years away. However, it was only this year that the telescope achieved one of its most remarkable feats of astrophotography: a 417-megapixel panorama of the Andromeda galaxy.
The Andromeda galaxy ranks among the nearest galaxies to Earth, situated 2.5 million light-years away. It is so close that, on clear autumn evenings, it is visible to the naked eye, appearing as a “subtle cigar-shaped object approximately the apparent angular diameter of our moon,” as per NASA. Yet, the galaxy’s closeness was exactly what posed difficulties in photographing it.
“The galaxy presents a much larger target in the sky compared to the galaxies Hubble usually studies, which are often billions of light-years distant,” stated NASA’s Hubble Mission Team.
Thus, it is no surprise that the entire project required over a decade and 1,000 Hubble orbits to finalize. By stitching together more than 600 overlapping images, the panorama stands as the largest photomosaic ever compiled from Hubble Space Telescope data. Spanning 2.5 billion pixels, it showcases a vast and colorful collection of 200 million stars, a mere portion of Andromeda’s total star population. Taken as a whole, the panorama represents not just a technological or photographic milestone but also a vital insight into the Andromeda galaxy itself.
As the closest neighbor to the Milky Way, Andromeda has historically served as a “proxy” for other spiral galaxies throughout the universe, whether concerning their structure or their evolutionary processes.
“Without Andromeda as a proxy, astronomers would be far less informed about our own Milky Way,” NASA indicates. “This is due to the fact that we are situated within the Milky Way. It’s similar to trying to map out New York City while standing in the heart of Central Park.”
Principal investigator Ben Williams from the University of Washington shared the same sentiment: “With Hubble, we can analyze in great detail what’s unfolding on a comprehensive scale throughout the entire galaxy disk. This level of detail cannot be achieved with any other significant galaxy.”
This latest panorama began with the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) approximately 10 years ago, capturing images of Andromeda’s northern section at near-ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths via the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3 onboard Hubble. PHAT was subsequently complemented by the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury (PHAST), yielding additional visuals of around 100 million stars in Andromeda’s southern region. When merged, PHAT and PHAST together encompass the entire Andromeda disk.
“This comprehensive examination of the resolved stars will aid us in reconstructing the galaxy’s historical mergers and interactions,” Williams adds.
According to NASA, Hubble’s recent discoveries will facilitate future explorations by the James Webb Space Telescope and the forthcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will be “essentially a wide-angle version of Hubble” and is expected to capture “the equivalent of at least 100 high-resolution Hubble images in a single exposure.”
For further information about this remarkable panorama of the Andromeda galaxy, please visit NASA’s website.
Earlier this year, NASA unveiled an astonishing 417-megapixel panorama of the Andromeda galaxy taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
This extensive panorama took over a decade to finalize and highlights 200 million stars.
NASA: [Website](https://www.nasa.gov/ “NASA Website”) | [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/nasa/ “NASA Instagram”)
_All images via NASA._
Source: [NASA’s Hubble Traces Hidden History of Andromeda Galaxy](https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-traces-hidden-history-of-andromeda-galaxy/ “NASA’s Hubble Traces Hidden History of Andromeda Galaxy”)
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