A composite figure of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) highlights the extremely large field of view of NASA’s upcoming Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).
The background consists of ground-based imagery of the main disk of the Andromeda galaxy from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS). A photo of the full Moon from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is provided for scale: Andromeda has a diameter of about 3 degrees on the sky, while the Moon is about 0.5 degrees across. (In reality, the Moon is much smaller than Andromeda, but it is also a lot closer.)
Outlined in teal is the region of Andromeda covered by the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) mosaic, the largest Hubble mosaic ever created.
Overlaid on the PHAT region and outlined in white is the footprint of the 18 square detectors that make up WFIRST’s Wide Field Instrument (WFI). The entire footprint covers about 1⅓ times the area of the full Moon and represents the area captured in a single shot by WFIRST (0.28 square degrees of the sky).
The PHAT, which covers a 61,000-light-year swath of Andromeda, consists of more than 400 composite images collected over more than 650 hours of infrared observing time between 2010 and 2013. WFIRST could cover the entire PHAT, at the same resolution, with just two pointings in less than half an hour.
Andromeda is a spiral galaxy similar in size and structure to the Milky Way, located approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth.
Credits
Background image: Digitized Sky Survey and R. GendlerMoon image: NASA, GSFC, and Arizona State University
WFIRST simulation: NASA, STScI, and B. F. Williams (University of Washington)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | M31, Andromeda Galaxy, NGC 224 |
| Object Description | Spiral Galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 00:42 |
| Dec. Position | +41:15 |
| Constellation | Andromeda |
| Distance | 2.5 million light-years |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
