Zooming In on the Andromeda Galaxy

2015 composite photograph

Zooming In on the Andromeda Galaxy

Gigapixels of Andromeda

The full-resolution mosaic

Artist| NASA, using the Hubble Space Telescope
Year| 2015
Type| Panorama
Subject| Andromeda Galaxy
Dimensions| 69,536 × 22,230 pixels

Zooming In on the Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Gigapixels of Andromeda, is a 2015 composite photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy produced by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is 1.5 billion pixels in size, and is the largest image ever taken by the telescope.[1] At the time of its release to the public, the image was one of the largest ever taken.[2]

In late 2011, the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) was set up,[1] which was tasked with mapping one-third of the stars within the Andromeda Galaxy. As of 2024, the survey has detected an estimated 117,000,000 astronomical objects using six light filters.[3][4]

The image depicts the right-most side[discuss] of the Andromeda Galaxy's galactic disc in visible light,[5][6] and the displayed section is approximately 61,000 light-years across.[7][8] The image shows the galaxy's 100 million stars of varying types and thousands of star clusters.[7][9][10] In the bottom-left of the image is the galaxy's nucleus, and dust lanes are also visible.[11] Several other deep-space objects are visible in the image, including background galaxies. Stars within the Milky Way are also visible, and are typically larger than stars within the Andromeda Galaxy.[12][13]

The final composite was stitched together using 411 exposures taken from July 2010 to October 2013,[14] and the image was first displayed at the 225th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, Washington.[7][15] The mosaic is the largest and sharpest composite photograph ever taken of the Andromeda Galaxy, and the largest ever taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.[1][16] At the time of its release, the image was also one of the largest throughout all photographs.[2] The image has been used to help astronomers detect more Andromeda-like spiral galaxies using light.[5]

## See also

[edit]

* COSMOS field
* Hubble Ultra-Deep Field

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Hubble Snaps 1.5 Billion-Pixel Close-Up of Andromeda Galaxy". NBC News. January 21, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
2. ^ a b "NASA releases largest picture ever taken". WBIR-TV. January 20, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
3. ^ "Astro Data Lab – Survey Data". datalab.noirlab.edu. Archived from the original on May 20, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
4. ^ "PHAT". MAST. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
5. ^ a b "Hubble takes the biggest image ever of Andromeda at 1.5 billion pixels". cosmosmagazine.com. January 5, 2015. Archived from the original on June 18, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
6. ^ Malewar, Amit (August 2, 2022). "NASA shares the largest-ever image of the Andromeda galaxy". Tech Explorist. Archived from the original on May 22, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
7. ^ a b c ESO. "Andromeda in HD – Hubble captures the sharpest ever view of neighbouring spiral Galaxy". www.esahubble.org. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
8. ^ "Hubble's High-Definition Panoramic View of the Andromeda Galaxy". HubbleSite. Archived from the original on August 23, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
9. ^ "ESA Science & Technology – Sharpest ever view of the Andromeda Galaxy". sci.esa.int. Archived from the original on July 31, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
10. ^ "This Incredible 1.5-Billion-Pixel Image Is the Biggest Hubble Picture Ever". Popular Mechanics. January 20, 2015. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
11. ^ "Hubble captures sharpest ever image of Andromeda". New Atlas. January 22, 2015. Archived from the original on June 17, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
12. ^ "ESA Science & Technology – Annotated section of Hubble image of the Andromeda Galaxy". sci.esa.int. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
13. ^ Malewar, Amit (August 2, 2022). "NASA shares the largest-ever image of the Andromeda galaxy". Tech Explorist. Archived from the original on May 22, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
14. ^ Trembley, Bob (January 9, 2015). "High-Definition Panoramic View of the Andromeda Galaxy". Vatican Observatory. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
15. ^ "NASA releases largest picture ever taken". kvue.com. January 20, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
16. ^ "NASA shows largest image ever of Andromeda Galaxy". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on February 5, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Zoomable version at ESA/HUBBLE

* v
* t
* e

Hubble Space Telescope

Current instruments|

* Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS)
* Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS)
* Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS)
* Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS)
* Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS)
* Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3)

Previous instruments|

* Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR)
* Faint Object Camera (FOC)
* Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS)
* Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS/HRS)
* High Speed Photometer (HSP)
* Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC)
* Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2)

Space Shuttle missions|

* Launch: STS-31 (1990, Discovery)
* Servicing: STS-61 (1993, Endeavour)
* STS-82 (1997, Discovery)
* STS-103 (1999, Discovery)
* STS-109 (2002, Columbia)
* STS-125 (2009, Atlantis)

Special fields
and images|

* Pillars of Creation (1995)
* Hubble Deep Field (1995)
* Hubble Deep Field South (1998)
* Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (2003–04)
* Extended Groth Strip (2004–05)
* SWEEPS (2006)
* Mystic Mountain (2010)
* Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (2012)
* Zooming In on the Andromeda Galaxy (2015)
* Hubble Legacy Field (2019)
* Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey
* Anniversary images
* List of deep fields

Related|

* Great Observatories program
* Space Telescope Science Institute
* Goddard Space Flight Center
* NASA
* Edwin Hubble
* Hubble (2010 documentary)
* Hubble Origins Probe

* Category
* Commons

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template