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

[Judi Lynn]

Jan 20, 2025 by News Staff



This the largest photomosaic ever assembled from Hubble observations. It is a panoramic view of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / B. Williams, University of Washington.


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

Hubble’s sharp imaging capabilities can resolve more than 200 million stars in the galaxy, detecting only stars brighter than our Sun. They look like grains of sand across the beach. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Andromeda’s total population is estimated to be one trillion stars, with many less massive stars falling below Hubble’s sensitivity limit.

“Photographing Andromeda was a herculean task because the galaxy is a much bigger target on the sky than the galaxies Hubble routinely observes, which are often billions of light-years away,” said University of Washington astronomer Zhuo Chen and colleagues.

More:
https://www.sci.news/astronomy/hubbles-photomosaic-andromeda-galaxy-13592.html

[biophile]

1. Amazing! Until recently, my sky was dark enough to see Andromeda

New warehouses nearby mean too much incident light at night to see it with the naked eye. Or maybe it’s just my aging eyes. 👀
Or both 😏

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Also, Muck has 6,000 satellites reflecting light and wants to double that. . . .nt

[biophile]

3. Yes and boo to that!

Not good

[Igel]

5. Let's not stop our gaze at the border.

Orbits don't.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/china/china-satellite-qianfan-g60-starlink-intl-hnk/index.html

China has taken a major step forward in its bid to create a rival to SpaceX’s Starlink this week by launching the first of what it hopes will be a constellation of 14,000 satellites beaming broadband internet coverage from space.

Leading that pack is Starlink, which has more than 6,000 satellites in orbit and ambitions to expand to as many as 42,000. It is widely expected to remain the dominant player in years to come, given its head start and advanced launch capabilities....

Qianfan, also known as G60 Starlink, is among three planned Chinese mega constellations that could see the country’s firms launching nearly 40,000 satellites into low Earth orbit (defined as no more than 1,200 miles above the planet) in the coming years. So-called mega constellations refer to networks of hundreds or thousands of orbiting satellites.

Ugh. Astronomy hell.

[GreenWave]

4. That's super amazing. Last year was the 100th anniversary of realizing there was more than just

the Milky Way.