Andromeda is located 2.5 million light years away from the Milky Way, a spiral galaxy similar to our own, which allowed scientists to better understand our galaxy home. A new composite image reveals our closest galaxy neighbor in five different wavelengths of light, combined to create a wonderfully detailed view of Andromeda.
Telescopes capture images in different wavelengths by observing a specific part of the electromagnetic spectrum, from low-frequency radio waves to extremely high-frequency gamma rays. Using different wavelengths, astronomers are able to see much more of the cosmos, whether it shines dust and stars or collides galaxies.
For the latest image of Andromeda, also known as M31, astronomers featured X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra Observatory, revealing the high energy radiation around the supermassy black hole at the center of the galaxy.
The X-ray data, captured by the XMM-Newton of the European Space Agency, are shown in red, green and blue. ULtraviolet data from NASA’s retired Galex is in blue; Infrared data from NASA’s retired Spitzer -space telescope, the infrared astronomical satellite, Cobe, Planck and Herschel are in red, orange and purple; and Radio Data from the Radio Telescope Westerbork synthesis are in red-orange, according to NASA. AStrophotographs Jakob Sahner and Tarun Kottary have provided some optical data with terrestrial-based telescopes.
Andromeda is a classic spiral, with graceful arms that rotate around a central swelling. It extends through 220,000 light years, twice the size of the Milky Way. The two galaxies are an unfortunate collision -course with each other and are expected to merge in about 4.5 billion years. Or may notAs a research published earlier this month suggested.
Astronomers have also transformed the multi-wavelength data to sound, creating a beautiful tune of Andromeda’s dusty streets and stars. To create Andromeda’s new song, scientists separated the layers trapped by each telescope and stacked them on the other horizontally, starting with radiographs at the top and then moving through ultraviolet, optical, infrared and radio at the bottom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Y_YwleA70
Each type of light is mapped to a different range of notes, from radio waves of lower energy through the high energy of X-rays. The brightness of each source controls the volume of the galaxy song, and the vertical location dictates the pitch.
Andromeda’s latest compound image was released in honor of legendary astronomer Vera Rubin, who discovered evidence of dark matter by measuring the speed of stars in the spiral galaxy. In the 1960s, Rubin carefully observed Andromeda and determined that unseen matter influences how the spiral arms of the galaxy rotated. Earlier this week, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, named after the pioneering astronomer, released their very first pictures of the cosmos.
