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.

                              2020 November 25

                          Andromeda over Patagonia
                 Image Credit & Copyright: Gerardo Ferrarino

   Explanation: How far can you see? The Andromeda Galaxy at 2.5 million
   light years away is the most distant object easily seen with your
   unaided eye. Most other apparent denizens of the night sky -- stars,
   clusters, and nebulae -- typically range from a few hundred to a few
   thousand light-years away and lie well within our own Milky Way Galaxy.
   Given its distance, light from Andromeda is likely also the oldest
   light that you can see. Also known as M31, the Andromeda Galaxy
   dominates the center of the featured zoomed image, taken from the dunes
   of Bahía Creek, Patagonia, in southern Argentina. The image is a
   combination of 45 background images with one foreground image -- all
   taken with the same camera and from the same location within 90
   minutes. M110, a satellite galaxy of Andromenda is visible just below
   and to the left of M31's core. As cool as it may be to see this
   neighboring galaxy to our Milky Way with your own eyes, long duration
   camera exposures can pick up many faint and breathtaking details.
   Recent data indicates that our Milky Way Galaxy will collide and
   combine with the similarly-sized Andromeda galaxy in a few billion
   years.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.


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