Thursday, January 6, 2011

Andromeda Galaxy Seen As Never Before

Hey Space Placers!

The farthest thing you can see in the night sky with just your eyes is the Andromeda Galaxy - a great spiral that is larger than our own Milky Way Galaxy. The Andromeda  Galaxy is 2.5 million light years distant, which means the light we see today left the galaxy 2.5million years ago.

The most detailed image to date of Andromeda Galaxy was obtained by combining images from different wavelengths of light. Each wavelength gives a different perspective as to the processes going on within the galaxy. For instance, infrared details the dust that lies within the spiral arms of the galaxy and x-ray shows high energy sources at work in the core of the galaxy.


Read More About It:
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMY1K0SDIG_index_0.html

By the way, in 5 billion years the Milky Way and Andromeda will merge and new galactic forms will take place. But that is another blog.

Sky Guy in VA

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