The Core of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
About This Image
Caption
A Hubble WFPC2 image of the core of M31. Astronomers believe the two bright objects are a ring of red stars and a disk of blue stars.
About The Object
- Object Name
- M31, Andromeda Galaxy, NGC 224
- Object Description
- Spiral Galaxy, Galaxy Nucleus
- R.A. Position
- 00h 42m 44.3s
- Dec. Position
- 41° 16' 9.4"
- Constellation
- Andromeda
- Distance
- About 2.5 million light-years (0.8 Megaparsecs)
About The Data
- Data Description
- The WFPC2 science data are from the HST proposal 5236: J. Westphal (Caltech), T.R. Lauer (NOAO/AURA/NSF), S. M. FABER UCO/Lick Observatory, W. Baum (Univ. of Washington) The STIS science data are from the HST proposal 8018: R. Green (NOAO/KPNO) and G. Bower (NOAO). The science team includes: R. Bender (Univ. of Sternwarte, Munich; Max Planck Inst., Garching; Univ. of Texas at Austin), J. Kormendy (Univ. of Texas at Austin), G. Bower (CSC/STScI), R. Green (NOAO), J. Thomas (Univ. of Sternwarte, Munich; Max Planck Inst., Garching), A.C. Danks (Bowie, MD), T. Gull (NASA/GSFC), J.B. Hutchings (NRC of Canada), C.L. Joseph (Rutgers Univ.), M.E. Kaiser (JHU), T.R. Lauer (NOAO/AURA/NSF), C.H. Nelson (UNLV), D. Richstone (Univ. of Michigan), D. Weistrop (UNLV), and B. Woodgate (NASA/GSFC).
- Instrument
- HST>WFPC2
- Exposure Dates
- June 18-20, 1995, Exposure Time: 3.7 hours
- Filters
- WFPC2: F160BW, F300W (U), F555W (V), F814W (I)
About The Image
About The Object
- Object Name
- A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
- Object Description
- The type of astronomical object.
- R.A. Position
- Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
- Dec. Position
- Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
- Constellation
- One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
- Distance
- The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
About The Data
- Data Description
- Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
- Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
- Instrument
- The science instrument used to produce the data.
- Exposure Dates
- The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
- Filters
- The camera filters that were used in the science observations.
About The Image
- Compass and Scale Image
- An astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.
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