Star cluster in the Andromeda galaxy

[Top] - This is a Hubble Space Telescope mosaic of 414 photographs of the nearest major galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy (M31). The vast panorama was assembled from nearly 8,000 separate exposures taken in near-ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. Embedded within this view are 2,753 star clusters. The view is 61,600 light-years across and contains images of 117 million stars in the galaxy's disk.

[Bottom-Left] - An enlargement of the boxed field in the top image reveals myriad stars and numerous open star clusters as bright blue knots. Hubble's bird's-eye view of M31 allowed astronomers to conduct a larger-than-ever sampling of star clusters that are all at the same distance from Earth, 2.5 million light-years. The view is 4,400 light-years across.

[Bottom-Right] - This is a view of six bright blue clusters extracted from the field. Hubble astronomers discovered that, for whatever reason, nature apparently cooks up stars with a consistent distribution from massive stars to small stars (blue supergiants to red dwarfs). This remains a constant across the galaxy, despite the fact that the clusters vary in mass by a factor of 10 and range in age from 4 million to 24 million years old. Each cluster square is 150 light-years across.

Link:

NASA Press release

Credit:

NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson (University of Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler

About the Image

NASA press release
Id:opo1518a
Type:Collage
Release date:4 September 2015, 11:23
Size:3000 x 2400 px

About the Object

Name:Andromeda Galaxy, M 31, Messier 31
Type:Local Universe : Star : Grouping : Cluster
Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Distance:2 million light years
Category:Galaxies
Star Clusters

Image Formats

r.titleLarge JPEG
3.8 MB
r.titleScreensize JPEG
532.5 KB

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Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Ultraviolet
F336W
336 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3
Infrared
F160W
1.6 μm Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3
Optical
F475W
475 nm Hubble Space Telescope
ACS
Infrared
F814W
814 nm Hubble Space Telescope
ACS

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