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Andromeda Galaxy Scanned with High-Energy X-ray Vision
Article
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nustar160105
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscope Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has imaged a swath of the Andromeda galaxy -- the nearest large galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy.
NuSTAR's view of Andromeda shows high-energy X-rays coming mostly from X-ray binaries, which are pairs of stars in which one "dead" member feeds off its companion. The dead member of the pair is either a black hole or neutron star. NuSTAR can pick up even the faintest of these objects, providing a better understanding of their population, as a whole, in Andromeda. The findings ultimately help astronomers gather clues about similar objects in the very distant universe.
About the Object
Color Mapping
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
X-ray | 16.0 keV | NuSTAR |
X-ray | 8.0 keV | NuSTAR |
X-ray | 5.0 keV | NuSTAR |
Astrometrics