Hubble takes the biggest image ever of Andromeda at 1.5 billion pixels

[SlyPokerDog]

The Hubble Space Telescope's image of the Andromeda Galaxy is the sharpest and biggest image ever taken of it. Click to expand but for an even closer view go to the Hubble website and use the zoom tool.

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have released the sharpest and biggest image ever taken of the Andromeda galaxy. The image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has an amazing 1.5 billion pixels that would require 600 HD television screens to display in full.

This panorama is the product of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) program. Images were obtained from viewing the galaxy in near-ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths, using the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard Hubble.

The view shows the galaxy in its natural visible-light color as photographed in red and blue filters.

This image is too large to display at full resolution and is best viewed here, using the zoom tool.

Andromeda Galaxy, otherwise known as Messier 31, is a large spiral galaxy that lies "just" 2.5 million light years from Earth. Hubble's detailed view captures more than 100 million stars and thousands of star clusters embedded in a section of the galaxy’s pancake-shaped disc stretching across over 40,000 light-years.

The whole galaxy contains over one thousand billion stars.

But the image represents just a third of the giant galaxy. It traces the galaxy from its central galactic bulge on the left of the image, where stars are densely packed together, across lanes of stars and dust to the sparser outskirts of its outer disc on the right.

Imagery of this sophistication has more than a "wow" factor. It will help astronomers interpret the light from the many galaxies that have a similar structure but lie much further away from us than Andromeda.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

I remember when we couldn't distinguish individual stars in other galaxies... now look at us. I can't wait for that new telescope going up in 2016... it's going to make the Hubble look like a rinky dink ground-based telescope.

 

[BrianFromWA]

love this.

And in before HCP says that he needs a high-quality photo of Uranus.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

love this.

And in before HCP says that he needs a high-quality photo of Uranus.

If he's not careful, I'll give him one.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Man, their site is getting hammered... we love space.

 

[porkchopexpress]

love this.

And in before HCP says that he needs a high-quality photo of Uranus.

I thought that's what his baller ass iPhone was for

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

Space is cool an all but I wish we would do more deep sea expeditions.

 

[MarAzul]

Space is cool an all but I wish we would do more deep sea expeditions.

Good idea! We can actually do that, go there and return withing our life time.

 

[tlongII]

And Creationists think life only exists on Earth. LOL.

 

[MarAzul]

And Creationists think life only exists on Earth. LOL.

Ha! Well don't just talk, put some real proof out there and show how silly such a limited view is.
Link please.

 

[tlongII]

It lurks...

We'll need a stronger telescope for that. It's just a matter of time. Probably not in my lifetime, but still just a matter of time.

 

[tlongII]

Ha! Well don't just talk, put some real proof out there and show how silly such a limited view is.
Link please.

We'll need a stronger telescope for that. It's just a matter of time. Probably not in my lifetime, but still just a matter of time.

 

[PDXFonz]

Where is the NSFW label?

 

[Denny Crane]

It's Photoshoped you know. I'm pretty sure the image was black and white before they enhanced it.

 

[MarAzul]

We'll need a stronger telescope for that. It's just a matter of time. Probably not in my lifetime, but still just a matter of time.

Now that is faith! No evidence to link, nothing but faith left.

 

[MarAzul]

It's Photoshoped you know. I'm pretty sure the image was black and white before they enhanced it.

Why don't you think they can pick up color?

 

[Denny Crane]

Why don't you think they can pick up color?

I like science.

http://hubblesite.org/reference_desk/faq/answer.php.id=93&cat=topten
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/behind_the_pictures/meaning_of_color/index.php

Taking color pictures with the Hubble Space Telescope is much more complex than taking color pictures with a traditional camera. For one thing, Hubble doesn't use color film — in fact, it doesn't use film at all. Rather, its cameras record light from the universe with special electronic detectors. These detectors produce images of the cosmos not in color, but in shades of black and white.

Finished color images are actually combinations of two or more black-and-white exposures to which color has been added during image processing.

The colors in Hubble images, which are assigned for various reasons, aren't always what we'd see if we were able to visit the imaged objects in a spacecraft. We often use color as a tool, whether it is to enhance an object's detail or to visualize what ordinarily could never be seen by the human eye.

 

[MarAzul]

Wow! I guess I forgot how long ago Hubble went up.

This really reads funny.
" Hubble doesn't use color film — in fact, it doesn't use film at all."
Yeah, well we haven't use film since sometime back in the past century.

Current photo technology takes color pictures, getting B&W takes a process.

 

[Denny Crane]

The technology they use may be more related to what can survive and function in the harsh conditions of space. Film exposed to x-rays for years on end wouldn't turn out too good. The effect of cosmic rays on color sensors may not be desirable, either.

In any case, the photos are amazing, but it is interesting to note they are enhanced.

 

[Cryptkeeper]

Where is the NSFW label?

#SpacePorn?

 

[tlongII]

Now that is faith! No evidence to link, nothing but faith left.

Faith. And logical reasoning.

 

[jlprk]

That picture sucks. I've seen more zoomable ones of other galaxies. And I 've never read before that Andromeda has a trillion stars. It should be at most a half-trillion, since it's a little bigger than the Milky Way and we have about 300 billion.

You can see Andromeda yourself on many nights. It's that little white smear you think is a cloud in the dark.

 

[MarAzul]

The technology they use may be more related to what can survive and function in the harsh conditions of space. Film exposed to x-rays for years on end wouldn't turn out too good. The effect of cosmic rays on color sensors may not be desirable, either.

In any case, the photos are amazing, but it is interesting to note they are enhanced.

Back 35 years ago pictures did not come via film either. That's why I thought that read funny! I can't even think of a way to use film and get an image back to earth.
When Voyager transmitted the images below back to earth 35 years ago, it took a couple days of processing time to turn the bit map, transmitted bit by bit, in to images.
The three images represent steps in the processing time on 370 mainframe computers at Ames Research in Sunny Vale CA. Had a little hand in that work myself.

We have a hell of a lot faster computing and transmitting power today but then Hubble does have dated gear onboard.

Sort of reminds me of what I am working on right now. Setting up communications at sea using the Winmor network, which I can receive email over HF radio when the Internet
is not available. Works pretty slick to but slow compared to internet speeds. I can receive text fine but bitmap images is a fur ball for sure. A one k text message works good, a
4 megbyte picture is a no go. We do the receiving and out bound coding with a PC sound card and transmitt in code. The reason for such this of course is cost but it is enabled
by technology. Weather data can be transmitted in Grib files and overlayed on existing images at the receiving end rather than transmit images every time.

I think a Hubble replacement will have the ability to send us wondrous images, perhaps beyond imagination. Especially if they can get to the point of not sending redundant
data, only the new or change. Wow! you could really build up a picture of what is happening. Correction, what happened many many years ago.

 

[magnifier661]

And Creationists think life only exists on Earth. LOL.

Not every creationist, but nice try. You may want to look how many atheist or agnostics don't believe in other educated life in the universe either.

 

[MarAzul]

Not every creationist, but nice try. You may want to look how many atheist or agnostics don't believe in other educated life in the universe either.

Ah don't be harsh Mags! The man has faith! He believes life spontaneously happens where ever. That takes faith when you have zero evidence to support the proposed postulate.

 

[magnifier661]

Ah don't be harsh Mags! The man has faith! He believes life spontaneously happens where ever. That takes faith when you have zero evidence to support the proposed postulate.

True, but I just wanted to point out that there are many in science, that thinks life in this universe being random; that it's highly improbable the of life being somewhere else.

 

[jlprk]

Back 35 years ago pictures did not come via film either. That's why I thought that read funny! I can't even think of a way to use film and get an image back to earth.

In the 60s, both American and Soviet spy satellites returned their film via parachuted canisters. One type of Russian spy satellite still does, and another type radios it encrypted, like all American ones do now. In the mid-60s, I read about how the plane near Hawaii catches the parachute on a hook.

 

[MarAzul]

Yes, a low earth orbit, high cost solution. I bet a replacement for Hubble will be far out in a stationary orbit. Getting a parachute back from there is mind boggling. You can guess why pictures from Voyager did not come by parachute.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Yes, a low earth orbit, high cost solution. I bet a replacement for Hubble will be far out in a stationary orbit. Getting a parachute back from there is mind boggling. You can guess why pictures from Voyager did not come by parachute.

the solar wind blows the parachutes ------> that way

 

[tlongII]

Not every creationist, but nice try. You may want to look how many atheist or agnostics don't believe in other educated life in the universe either.

Who said educated life?