NASA has released breathtaking images of the Andromeda galaxy, providing new insights into its 100-year-old history. The Hubble Space Telescope and NASA scientists have created a comprehensive survey of the galaxy, revealing clues about its past and present.
The Andromeda galaxy is approximately 2.5 million light-years away from the Milky Way and contains over 1 trillion stars. With Hubble’s sharp imaging capabilities, researchers detected more than 200 million bright stars, but estimate the total population to be around 1 trillion.
Astronomers analyzed the survey, which consists of a mosaic assembled from two Hubble programs spanning over 1,000 orbits and covering approximately 600 separate fields of view. The image is made up of at least 2.5 billion pixels.
The research suggests that Andromeda has a more active recent star-formation history than the Milky Way. It appears to be more densely populated with younger stars and features coherent streams of stars, implying a collision with another galaxy in the neighborhood.
According to scientists, Andromeda’s appearance is like “a train wreck,” indicating a significant event that led to its formation of many stars and subsequent shutdown. The most interesting regions of the image are labeled A to E, showcasing unique features such as blue star clusters, young newborn stars, satellite galaxies, and dark dust lanes.
These stunning images offer new insights into the Andromeda galaxy’s past and present, shedding light on its history and structure.
Source: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/21/andromeda-galaxy-nasa-photos/77856074007