2.5 gigapixels: Hubble telescope takes largest photo of the Andromeda Galaxy
Hubble's first gigapixel panorama of the Andromeda Galaxy was published exactly ten years ago. This has now been significantly expanded once again.
A section of the panorama
(Image: NASA, ESA, B. Williams (University of Washington))
Over more than ten years, the Hubble Space Telescope has taken individual images of the Andromeda Galaxy, which have now been put together to form the largest mosaic of our neighboring galaxy. It shows around 200 million stars and 2.5 billion pixels, making it 2.5 gigapixels in size. This means that it clearly surpasses the previous record holder, which was exactly 10 years old. — Due to the immense size of the file, NASA is only making a lower-resolution version of – (still more than 700 megabytes in size) available for download; the original can only be accessed via a special page for astronomical images.
As those responsible now explain, the gigantic panorama is based on a truly Herculean effort by the space telescope. It took over ten years to photograph individual sections of the comparatively large galaxy. The device can resolve beyond 200 million stars, all of which are brighter than our sun. Overall, it is assumed that the Andromeda Galaxy contains more than a trillion stars, meaning that the vast majority are too faint for Hubble. The researchers have now compiled another image in which certain structures in the galaxy are particularly highlighted.
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To present the giant panorama, the astronomers are now also reminding us that 100 years ago, Edwin Hubble, who gave his name to the space telescope, discovered that the universe is larger than our Milky Way thanks to this very galaxy. Until then, it had been assumed that the cosmos and our home galaxy were identical. Overnight, so to speak, he has turned cosmology on its head with the discovery of another galaxy and “revealed an infinitely larger universe”, writes the research team.
(Image:Â NASA, ESA, B. Williams (U. of Washington))
The predecessor of the giant panorama was published ten years ago by NASA and ESA, the space agencies responsible for Hubble, and was created as part of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT). For the even larger panorama, the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury (PHAST) program was connected to it. The result is therefore called “Hubble M31 PHAT+PHAST Mosaic”, M31 being the name of the Andromeda Galaxy in the central Messier catalog. A version with a resolution of 42,208×9870 pixels is available for download directly from NASA. The original files are available from the NASA Space Telescope Archive.
(mho)
