                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2022 May 23

                   The Once and Future Stars of Andromeda
    Image Credit: NASA, NSF, NOAJ, Hubble, Subaru, Mayall, DSS, Spitzer;
           Processing & Copyright: Robert Gendler & Russell Croman

   Explanation: This picture of Andromeda shows not only where stars are
   now, but where stars will soon be. Of course, the big, beautiful
   Andromeda Galaxy, M31, is a spiral galaxy -- and a mere 2.5 million
   light-years away. Both space-based and ground-based observatories have
   been here combined to produce this intriguing composite image of
   Andromeda, at wavelengths both inside and outside normally visible
   light. The visible light shows where M31's stars are now -- as
   highlighted in white and blue hues and imaged by the Hubble, Subaru,
   and Mayall telescopes. The infrared light shows where M31's future
   stars will soon form -- as highlighted in orange hues and imaged by
   NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The infrared light tracks enormous
   lanes of dust, warmed by stars, sweeping along Andromeda's spiral arms.
   This dust is a tracer of the galaxy's vast interstellar gas -- the raw
   material for future star formation. These new stars will likely form
   over the next hundred million years, surely well before Andromeda
   merges with our Milky Way Galaxy in about 5 billion years.

                      Tomorrow's picture: visiting moon
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

