Multiple space telescopes and ground-based observatories have combined their data to produce an incredible image of the Andromeda Galaxy like you've never seen before.
The Andromeda Galaxy is our closest spiral galaxy, located 2.5 million lightyears away.
This view of the Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31, was created using data from multiple telescopes, both in space and on Earth.
X-ray light was captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton (represented in red, green, and blue).
Ultraviolet was captured by NASA’s retired GALEX (blue)
Optical, visible light was caught by from astrophotographers Jakob Sahner and Tarun Kottary using ground based telescopes
Infrared was captured by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope, the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, COBE, Planck, and Herschel (red, orange, and purple)
Radio data comes from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (red-orange).
Wavelengths reveal the secrets of the Universe
By observing the cosmos in different wavelengths of light, astronomers can get new views of familiar objects, revealing features that wouldn't be visible to the human eye.
In the case of the Andromeda Galaxy, each wavelength gives astronomers important information about different features within the galaxy.
For example, Chandra’s X-ray data reveals high-energy radiation around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Andromeda Galaxy.
The Andromeda Galaxy's supermassive black hole is known to increase in X-ray light periodically, representing flares that provide a glimpse as to what's going on at the centre of the galaxy.
The sounds of science
These views of the Andromeda Galaxy are accompanied by a 'sonification' of the different wavelengths of light.
Each type of light is mapped to a different range of notes, from lower-energy radio waves up to high-energy X-rays.
The brightness of each source is depicted audibly by volume, and the vertical location dictates the pitch.
In the sonification, the layer from each telescope is separated out and rotated so they stack on top of each other horizontally.
Tribute to a groundbreaking scientist
NASA says this view of the Andromeda Galaxy is released "in tribute to the groundbreaking legacy of Dr. Vera Rubin, whose observations transformed our understanding of the Universe."
Rubin is a key figure in the history of our understanding of dark matter, the mysterious, invisible substance that seems to be holding galaxies together.
Dark matter was conceived to explain how the gravitational influence of just the visible matter in a galaxy – stars, dust and gas – isn't enough to stop stars flying off into space as the galaxy rotates.
There must be some extra material we can't see, whose gravitational pull is allowing stars in a galaxy to be spun around so fast without flying outwards.
This unseen extra material was named 'dark matter', and astronomers still don't know what it is.
Vera Rubin's measurements of Andromeda’s rotation curve were key in providing convincing evidence that galaxies are embedded in massive halos of invisible material.
In 2025, the United States Mint released a quarter featuring Vera Rubin as part of its American Women Quarters Program.
