Hubble image archive
M31 Halo Illustration over Rocky Terrain
At a distance of 2.5 million light-years, the majestic spiral Andromeda galaxy it is so close to us that it appears as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky. If its gaseous halo could be seen with the naked eye, it would be about three times the width of the Big D...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2020
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2020-46-4735-image
At a distance of 2.5 million light-years, the majestic spiral Andromeda galaxy it is so close to us that it appears as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky. If its gaseous halo could be seen with the naked eye, it would be about three times the width of the Big Dipper—easily the biggest feature on the nighttime sky.
Credits
NASA, ESA, J. DePasquale and E. Wheatley (STScI) and Z. LevayMore Images From This Period
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov