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Amazing Andromeda Galaxy
| Title |
Amazing Andromeda Galaxy |
| Description |
The many "personalities" of our great galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, are exposed in this new composite image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The wide, ultraviolet eyes of Galaxy Evolution Explorer reveal Andromeda's "fiery" nature -- hotter regions brimming with young and old stars. In contrast, Spitzer's super-sensitive infrared eyes show Andromeda's relatively "cool" side, which includes embryonic stars hidden in their dusty cocoons. Galaxy Evolution Explorer detected young, hot, high-mass stars, which are represented in blue, while populations of relatively older stars are shown as green dots. The bright yellow spot at the galaxy's center depicts a particularly dense population of old stars. Swaths of red in the galaxy's disk indicate areas where Spitzer found cool, dusty regions where stars are forming. These stars are still shrouded by the cosmic clouds of dust and gas that collapsed to form them. Together, Galaxy Evolution Explorer and Spitzer complete the picture of Andromeda's swirling spiral arms. Hints of pinkish purple depict regions where the galaxy's populations of hot, high-mass stars and cooler, dust-enshrouded stars co-exist. Located 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda is our largest nearby galactic neighbor. The galaxy's entire disk spans about 260,000 light-years, which means that a light beam would take 260,000 years to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy's disk is about 100,000 light-years across. This image is a false color composite comprised of data from Galaxy Evolution Explorer's far-ultraviolet detector (blue), near-ultraviolet detector (green), and Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer at 24 microns (red). |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Deepest View of Space Yields
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| Title |
Deepest View of Space Yields Young Stars in Andromeda Halo |
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Galaxy NGC 55
PIA04923
GALEX Telescope
| Title |
Galaxy NGC 55 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This image of the nearby edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 55 was taken by Galaxy Evolution Explorer on September 14, 2003, during 2 orbits. This galaxy lies 5.4 million light years from our Milky Way galaxy and is a member of the "local group" of galaxies that also includes the Andromeda galaxy (M31), the Magellanic clouds, and 40 other galaxies. The spiral disk of NGC 55 is inclined to our line of sight by approximately 80 degrees and so this galaxy looks cigar-shaped. This picture is a combination of Galaxy Evolution Explorer images taken with the far ultraviolet (colored blue) and near ultraviolet detectors, (colored red). The bright blue regions in this image are areas of active star formation detected in the ultraviolet by Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The red stars in this image are foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. |
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