The Once and Future Stars of Andromeda

This picture shows where stars will be in the future. 2.5 million light-years away, is the big, beautiful, spiral galaxy, M31. This intriguing image of Andromeda has been created by combining both space-based and ground-based observatories. The visible light shows where M31's stars are now, as highlighted in white and blue hues and imaged by the Hubble, Mayall telescopes. The orange hue of the light shows where M31's future stars will form. The dust is warmed by the stars and tracked by the light. The raw material for future star formation comes from this dust. The new stars will likely form over the next hundred million years, well before the merging of the two stars in 5 billion years.

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The plan was to take a picture of a part of the sky that was hosting an unusual guest. An additional and unexpected guest was included in the result. The center of the image features the clouds of Rho Ophiuchi and part of the central band of the Milky Way. The image was taken during last week's total lunar eclipse and was expected to be an unusual guest. The moon would be so bright that it would overwhelm the background. There was a bright meteor across the image center. The fleeting meteor streak was captured on only one of the 10 images from La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands, while the Moon image was taken immediately afterwards with the same camera and from the same location. The next total lunar eclipse is expected to take place in early November.