The largest-ever image of space is revealing new things about neighbouring galaxies
- Text by Shelley Jones
Earlier this month NASA released this image of the Andromeda Galaxy – the nearest galaxy to ours (The Milky Way) – and it is the largest and sharpest image of space ever assembled by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope.
The image has 1.5 billion pixels meaning you would need more than 600 HD TVs to display it in full and it was stitched together into a mosaic image using 7,398 exposures taken over 411 individual pointings.
Andromeda is the closest galaxy to us at a distance of 2.5 million light-years away and therefore was more difficult to capture in one image than other galaxies that are billions of lightyears away.
The size of the image means that astronomers can identify individual stars in the galaxy – there are over 100 million of them – and study any patterns and trends in their spread throughout the galaxy. This could potentially reveal new information about how galaxies behave.
For example, by looking at the bigger picture astronomers are able to observe a galaxy-wide wave of star birth that could have been triggered by an ancient impact with another galaxy, astronomer Benjamin Williams of the University of Washington in Seattle told Nature.
This discovery could, in turn, help scientists predict what will happen when Andromeda collides with our galaxy in 5 billion years, as is widely expected.
But let’s not get all melancholia about it. Why not bathe in the beauty of this video, which dives into the image, instead. Maybe even with the new Bjork album as a soundtrack? Trippy, man.
Latest on Huck
Petition to save the Prince Charles Cinema signed by over 100,000 people in a day
PCC forever — The Soho institution has claimed its landlord, Zedwell LSQ Ltd, is demanding the insertion of a break clause that would leave it “under permanent threat of closure”.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Remembering Taboo, the party that reshaped ’80s London nightlife
Glitter on the floor — Curators Martin Green and NJ Stevenson revisit Leigh Bowery’s legendary night, a space for wild expression that reimagined partying and fashion.
Written by: Cyna Mirzai
A timeless, dynamic view of the Highland Games
Long Walk Home — Robbie Lawrence travelled to the historic sporting events across Scotland and the USA, hoping to learn about cultural nationalism. He ended up capturing a wholesome, analogue experience rarely found in the modern age.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The rave salvaging toilets for London’s queers
Happy Endings — Public bathrooms have long been contested spaces for LGBTQ+ communities, and rising transphobia is seeing them come under scrutiny. With the infamous rave-in-a-bog at an east London institution, its party-goers are claiming them for their own.
Written by: Ben Smoke
Baghdad’s first skatepark set to open next week
Make Life Skate Life — Opening to the public on February 1, it will be located at the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the city centre and free-of-charge to use.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Nydia Blas explores Black power and pride via family portraits
Love, You Came from Greatness — For her first major monograph, the photographer and educator returned to her hometown of Ithaca, New York, to create a layered, intergenerational portrait of its African American families and community.
Written by: Miss Rosen