Stars in the Andromeda Galaxy’s halo with background galaxies (1)
This image shows NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images of a small part of the halo of the Andromeda Galaxy. The halo is the huge and sparse sphere of stars that surrounds a galaxy. While there are relatively few stars in a galaxy’s halo, studies of the rotation rate of galaxies suggest that there is a great deal of invisible dark matter here.
Hubble’s position above the distorting effect of the atmosphere, combined with the galaxy’s relative proximity, means that this image can be resolved into individual stars, rather than the cloudy white wisps usually seen in observations of galaxies. In the background, many faraway galaxies are visible, billions of light-years further away than the Andromeda Galaxy.
These observations were made in order to observe a wide variety of stars in Andromeda, ranging from faint main sequence stars like our own Sun, to the much brighter RR Lyrae stars, which are a type of variable star. With these measurements, astronomers can determine the chemistry and ages of the stars in each part of the Andromeda Galaxy.
Credit:NASA, ESA and T.M. Brown (STScI)
About the Image
Id: | heic1112c |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 21 July 2011, 10:00 |
Related releases: | heic1112 |
Size: | 6448 x 6663 px |
About the Object
Name: | Andromeda Galaxy, M 31, Messier 31 |
Type: | Local Universe : Star : Type : Variable Local Universe : Galaxy : Component : Halo Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral |
Distance: | 2 million light years |
Constellation: | Andromeda |
Category: | Stars |
Image Formats
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 0 49 5.17 |
Position (Dec): | 40° 17' 36.87" |
Field of view: | 3.22 x 3.33 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 128.0° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical V | 606 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical Pseudogreen (V+I) |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS | |
Infrared I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |