Andromeda, our Milky Way's celestial neighbor, has been scrutinized like never before. With the space telescope Hubblewe managed to obtain a breathtaking panoramic view of 417 megapixels of this spiral galaxy. This incredible project, the result of more than ten years of effort, marks a turning point in our understanding of galaxies.
A stunning photomosaic
The Hubble photomosaic is enormous: it displays impressive dimensions of 42 208 par 9 870 pixels. It is the largest of its kind made using telescope observations. To capture a significant portion of 200 million stars of Andromeda, it was necessary to assemble more than 600 photos individual! Although this represents only a small portion of the estimated trillion stars in the galaxy, the images cover a mind-blowing total of 2.5 billion pixels.
This dive into the heart of Andromeda is valuable for astronomers. It not only allows us to trace its complex history (with its past mergers with small satellite galaxies), but it also offers a valuable model for understanding the structure and evolution of spiral galaxies in the universe. Basically, studying Andromeda helps us to better understand our own Milky Way, which we struggle to see in its entirety from home.
A look back at a discovery that changed the game
Almost a hundred years ago, Edwin Hubble shook up our view of the cosmos by proving that Andromeda was well outside the Milky Way, leading to the theory of an expanding universe. Before this stroke of brilliance, we thought that our galaxy constituted the entire universe! Even today, Andromeda remains at the heart of astronomical research thanks to modern technologies such as the Hubble telescope.
Technical challenges: how did we get there?
Photograph a galaxy located at 2.5 million light yearsit’s not a piece of cake! NASA even speaks of a “Herculean” challenge, as there were so many technical obstacles to obtaining these incredible shots. The program Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) started about ten years ago and focused on the northern half of Andromeda with images taken in several wavelengths: near-ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared. Its successor, the program Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury (PHAST)made it possible to add approximately 100 millions additional stars coming from the southern half.
-And tomorrow? The bright future of astronomy
Although the James Webb Space Telescope attracts all the attention with its ultra-modern capabilities, Hubble continues to shine with its invaluable detailed observations. Ben Williams of the University of Washington says that “with Hubble you can get enormous detail of what's happening on a large scale across the entire galactic disk.” But the best is yet to come with the future space telescope Nancy Grace Romanwhich should do even better by capturing the equivalent of a hundred high-resolution photos in a single shot.
This monumental panorama and associated discoveries strengthen not only our knowledge of Andromeda but also that of universal galactic processes. As we continue to peer into the stars with wonder and curiosity, these scientific advances remind us how much there is still to discover beyond the horizons visible from our good old blue Earth.
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