The Galaxy Next Door in Ultraviolet

Galex_glx2012-03r_img01_1024

galex_glx2012-03r_img01 May 15th, 2012

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Hot stars burn brightly in this new image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, showing the ultraviolet side of a familiar face.

At approximately 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda galaxy, or M31, is our Milky Way's largest galactic neighbor. The entire galaxy spans 260,000 light-years across -- a distance so large, it took 11 different image segments stitched together to produce this view of the galaxy next door.

The bands of blue-white making up the galaxy's striking rings are neighborhoods that harbor hot, young, massive stars. Dark blue-grey lanes of cooler dust show up starkly against these bright rings, tracing the regions where star formation is currently taking place in dense cloudy cocoons. Eventually, these dusty lanes will be blown away by strong stellar winds, as the forming stars ignite nuclear fusion in their cores. Meanwhile, the central orange-white ball reveals a congregation of cooler, old stars that formed long ago.

When observed in visible light, Andromeda's rings look more like spiral arms. The ultraviolet view shows that these arms more closely resemble the ring-like structure previously observed in infrared wavelengths with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomers using Spitzer interpreted these rings as evidence that the galaxy was involved in a direct collision with its neighbor, M32, more than 200 million years ago.

Andromeda is so bright and close to us that it is one of only ten galaxies that can be spotted from Earth with the naked eye. This view is two-color composite, where blue represents far-ultraviolet light, and orange is near-ultraviolet light.

Provider: Galaxy Evolution Explorer

Image Source: http://www.galex.caltech.edu/media/glx2012-03r_img01.html

Curator: Galaxy Evolution Explorer, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Andromeda Galaxy Messier 31 M31 NGC 224
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral

Distance

Universescale2
2,500,000 light years
Galex_glx2012-03r_img01_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 0h 42m 44.3s
DEC = 41° 16’ 9.1”
Orientation
North is 100.0° CW
Field of View
3.9 x 2.9 degrees
Constellation
Andromeda

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue GALEX (FUV) Ultraviolet (Far-UV) 150.0 nm
Yellow GALEX (NUV) Ultraviolet (Near-UV) 230.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Yellow
Galex_glx2012-03r_img01_1280
×
ID
glx2012-03r_img01
Subject Category
C.5.1.1.  
Subject Name
Andromeda Galaxy, Messier 31, M31, NGC 224
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Release Date
2012-05-15
Lightyears
2,500,000
Redshift
2,500,000
Reference Url
http://www.galex.caltech.edu/media/glx2012-03r_img01.html
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
GALEX, GALEX
Instrument
FUV, NUV
Color Assignment
Blue, Yellow
Band
Ultraviolet, Ultraviolet
Bandpass
Far-UV, Near-UV
Central Wavelength
150, 230
Start Time
Integration Time
566697.450342
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
Reference Value
10.6846, 41.2692
Reference Dimension
9400, 7000
Reference Pixel
4700, 3500
Scale
-4.16666666666667e-04, 4.16666666666667e-04
Rotation
-100
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Galaxy Evolution Explorer
URL
http://www.galex.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Public Domain
Publisher
Galaxy Evolution Explorer
Publisher ID
galex
Resource ID
Resource URL
/image/galex/glx2012-03r_img01
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2023-02-24T08:00:19Z
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
2,500,000 light years

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