NASA Shares Largest-Ever Image Of Andromeda Galaxy, Internet Calls It “Extraordinarily Beautiful”
The image shows a 48,000 light-year stretch of the Andromeda galaxy.
US space agency NASA on Sunday shared the “largest ever” image assembled of the Andromeda galaxy by the Hubble Space Telescope. The picture was taken seven years ago and it is the sharpest, largest composite image ever taken of our galactic neighbour.
The image shows the Andromeda galaxy spanning 48,000 light-years with more than 100 million stars in view, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. The panorama image is split into three parts in the Instagram post, with the last showing a band of blue stars with numerous stars scattered throughout the image.
Take a look below:
“This image is divided into three images. The first image shows a bright spot emanating from the lower left part of the Andromeda galaxy with bands extending in all directions. Light diminishes in the top quarter of the galaxy. the image is of mostly black and blue swaths of space with numerous stars. The second photo has light dissipating with purple and blue bands giving way to the black of space,” NASA wrote in note.
Since being shared, the image has captivated netizens. It has accumulated over a million likes. One user wrote, “It’s amazingly beautiful.” Another said, “It’s a phenomenon.” “Absolutely unbelievable,” commented a third.
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The space agency explains that because the Andromeda galaxy is located 2.5 million light-years away, thousands of star clusters can be identified. NASA says our Milky Way galaxy and Andromeda are similar in size and shape.
Notably, the image was first released in 2015 and was re-shared yesterday. It shows the galaxy 48,000 light-years long in its “naturally visible light color”, which the agency has stated. Because the galaxy is only 2.5 million light-years from Earth, it is a much larger target than the countless galaxies that Hubble typically captures billions of light-years away.
