                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2026 June 3
   Wispy clouds of dust and gas in the Milky Way obscure the image. Milky
    Way stars are scattered across the image. Andromeda is a tight spiral
    of gas, dust, and stars that occupies the middle background. A couple
   smaller galaxies look like small bright clumps of stars near Andromeda.

                       Andromeda Through Gas and Dust
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Nick Fritz
         Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

   Explanation: Over 1000 years ago, Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman
   al-Sufi published humanity’s oldest known record of the Andromeda
   Galaxy in "The Book of Fixed Stars" (Bodleian Library MS. Marsh 144 p.
   167). 800 years later, Andromeda became the 31st entry in Charles
   Messier’s "Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters". From “a small
   cloud” to “nebula” and now known to be our nearest major galaxy,
   Andromeda has remained a fundamental astronomical object. Today’s
   image, taken over 202 hours, shows how far we have come in our ability
   to observe our neighbor. The diffuse red and blue clouds are mostly
   foreground ionized hydrogen and oxygen well within our Milky Way.
   Pink-red clouds of hydrogen ionized by the energetic light of young
   stars trace the galaxy’s dusty spiral arms. M32 and M110 are satellite
   galaxies pictured orbiting the larger Andromeda. Despite its long
   history of observation through ancient unaided eyes to modern
   telescopes, Andromeda still holds countless secrets that astronomers
   will continue to search for, including how galaxies merge and evolve,
   as well as the nature of the dark matter that galaxies reside in.

          Teachers! the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program
                    is officially open for applications!
                   Tomorrow's picture: a cosmic buckyball
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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