wise_WISE2010-004c2 February 17th, 2010
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team
This image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, highlights the dust that speckles the Andromeda galaxy's spiral arms. It shows light seen by the longest-wavelength infrared detectors on WISE (12-micron light has been color coded orange, and 22-micron light, red).
The hot dust, which is being heated by newborn stars, traces the spidery arms all the way to the center of the galaxy. Telltale signs of young stars can also be seen in the centers of Andromeda's smaller companion galaxies, M32 and M110.
Andromeda, also called M31, is 2.5 million light-years away, and is the nearest large neighbor to our Milky Way galaxy.
Provider: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
Image Source: /image/wise/WISE2010-004c2
Curator: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Berkeley, CA, USA
Image Use Policy: Pulic Domain
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
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