Detailed view of the Andromeda galaxy (M31)

Below is the most detailed view of the whole Andromeda galaxy (M31), covering a sky area of 8×2.5 degrees with a resolution of 0.8 arcseconds per pixel. The mosaic image is based on frames from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), carefully processed and stitched together at Tartu Observatory.

The mosaic is made of 672 individual frames in three colours, resulting in a huge 425-megapixel image. From the five Sloan filters (ugriz), three were used for the colour mosaic: g for blue, r for green, and i for red. As the Sloan r and i cover the red and the near-infrared regions in the spectrum, then the result is, strictly speaking, a false-colour image.

The zoomable image lets you see the details of M31, its neighbouring galaxies, M32 and M110, countless foreground stars and background galaxies. Enjoy!

Zoomable image of the Andromeda galaxy. Click on the right-most button for full-screen view. Based on the SDSS data; processing by Taavi Tuvikene and Elmo Tempel.

The scientific paper is available at http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.3591