A New Look at a Close Neighbor

Chandra_355_1024

chandra_355 May 22nd, 2007

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MPE/W.Pietsch et al; Optical: NOAO/AURA/NSF/T.Rector & B.A.Wolpa

In this image, Andromeda's central region is seen in a combination of Chandra's X-ray data (blue) and optical light. Hot, X-ray bright gas is seen to envelop the middle of Andromeda. Point sources are also prominent, which mostly reveal pairs of stars that are interacting with each other. Many of these double stars are thought to include white dwarfs pulling large amounts of material away from a companion star. When the amount of gas being dumped onto the white dwarf gets too high a thermonuclear explosion occurs on the surface of the white dwarf, emitting bright X-rays.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/m31/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Collage
Object Name
Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Galaxy > Component > Central Black Hole

Distance Details Distance

Universescale3
290,000,000 light years
Chandra_355_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 0h 42m 44.3s
DEC = 41° 16’ 7.7”
Orientation
North is 0.1° CW
Field of View
1.5 x 1.1 degrees
Constellation
Andromeda

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Red KPNO (WIYN) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Red KPNO (WIYN) Optical (R-band) 675.0 nm
Green KPNO (WIYN) Optical (V-band) 540.0 nm
Blue KPNO (WIYN) Optical (B-band) 456.0 nm
Spectrum_xray1
Blue
Red
Red
Green
Blue
Chandra_355_1280
×
ID
355
Subject Category
C.5.1.1.   C.5.4.6.  
Subject Name
Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Credits
X-ray: NASA/CXC/MPE/W.Pietsch et al; Optical: NOAO/AURA/NSF/T.Rector & B.A.Wolpa
Release Date
2007-05-22
Lightyears
290,000,000
Redshift
290,000,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/m31/
Type
Collage
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra, KPNO, KPNO, KPNO, KPNO
Instrument
ACIS, WIYN, WIYN, WIYN, WIYN
Color Assignment
Blue, Red, Red, Green, Blue
Band
X-ray, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
X-ray, H-alpha, R-band, V-band, B-band
Central Wavelength
0.8267, 656, 675, 540, 456
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
10.68460600000, 41.26881400000
Reference Dimension
3150.00, 2250.00
Reference Pixel
1054.24500277658, 1112.25044936087
Scale
-0.00047214021, 0.00047214021
Rotation
-0.14581486229
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Position
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.0 revision 213+ by the Chandra X-ray Center
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
m31.tif
Resource URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/m31/m31.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2012-07-26T13:55:58-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
290,000,000 light years

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