Stars in the Andromeda Galaxys halo with background galaxies (1)

Esahubble_heic1112c_1024

esahubble_heic1112c July 21st, 2011

Credit: NASA, ESA and T.M. Brown (STScI)

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 galaxys halo, studies of the rotation rate of galaxies suggest that there is a great deal of invisible dark matter here. Hubbles position above the distorting effect of the atmosphere, combined with the galaxys 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.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1112c/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Andromeda Galaxy M 31 Messier 31
Subject - Local Universe
Star > Type > Variable
Galaxy > Component > Halo
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Esahubble_heic1112c_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 0h 49m 5.2s
DEC = 40° 17’ 36.9”
Orientation
North is 128.0° CCW
Field of View
3.2 x 3.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Andromeda

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) -
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (Pseudogreen (V+I)) -
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) -
Esahubble_heic1112c_1280
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ID
heic1112c
Subject Category
C.3.2.1   C.5.4.4   D.5.1.1  
Subject Name
Andromeda Galaxy, M 31, Messier 31
Credits
NASA, ESA and T.M. Brown (STScI)
Release Date
2011-07-21T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1112c/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, Pseudogreen (V+I), V
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
12.2715337171, 40.2935751446
Reference Dimension
6448.0, 6663.0
Reference Pixel
3224.0, 3331.5
Scale
-8.33414633522e-06, 8.33414633522e-06
Rotation
128.01999999999981
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
heic1112c
Metadata Date
2011-05-09T16:16:59+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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