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![]() GALEX observatory captures galaxies galore NASA/JPL NEWS RELEASE Posted: December 11, 2003 The most sensitive and comprehensive ultraviolet image ever taken of the Andromeda Galaxy, our nearest large neighbor galaxy, has been captured by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The image is one of several being released to the public as part of the mission's first collection of pictures.
The image of Andromeda, the most distant object the naked eye can see, is a mosaic of nine images taken in September and October of 2003. It combines two ultraviolet colors, one near ultraviolet (red) and one far ultraviolet (blue). The new collection of images also includes views of several nearby galaxies; Stephan's Quintet of Galaxies; an all-sky survey image of the globular star cluster M2; and a deep image of the sky in the constellation Bootes. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer team is also releasing the first batch of scientific data, so the science community can propose additional observations for the mission. These images and data display the power of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer to collect sensitive ultraviolet images of large parts of the sky. "It's very rewarding and exciting for the team to see the fruits of their labors," said Kerry Erickson, the mission's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Because people are accustomed to seeing objects in visible light, it's amazing to see how different the universe looks in ultraviolet and how much information is revealed to us by those observations." Scientists are interested in learning more about the Andromeda galaxy, including its brightness, mass, age, and the distribution of young star clusters in its spiral arms. This will provide a tremendous amount of information about the mechanisms of star formation in galaxies, and will help them interpret ultraviolet and infrared observations of other, more distant galaxies.
In addition to leading the mission, Caltech is also responsible for science operations and data analysis. JPL, a division of Caltech, manages the mission and led the science instrument development. The mission is part of NASA's Explorers Program, managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The mission's international partners are France and South Korea. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
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