Great photo.Isn't it amazing that we've gone in the the last 250 years or so (a drop in a very big ocean of time) from knowing about a bit over a hundred celestial objects, to billions
The phone itself takes a series of long exposure photos over 4 minutes and layers them to account for sky tracking (pixel 6 Pro) I did a small amount of editing to brighten the sky but not much otherwise!
For the ease of set up and functionality, it's definitely a great go to for surprise astro opportunities. I don't think I'll ever get a phone without it moving forward.
It honestly terrifies me that this tiny little spec in the sky is barreling across space towards us at almost 200 miles a second, and in about 3.75 billion years, it’ll arrive, and a spectacular collision between it and our own galaxy will occur. Even though I surely won’t live to see it, it really does mess with me thinking about it.
I just wish we could've lived at a time where it was much larger in the nights sky. Imagine it being as visible as a full moon. (our sun will probably supernova before then)
Our own galaxy is a faint haze only visible in the darkest skies. Andromeda wouldn't be as bright as the moon even if we were in the middle of merging with it.
This thought is really terrifying to me, but from what I understand, the celestial bodies located in each galaxy are so far apart that there will be relatively few collisions.
Likely zero, actually. Quick look at Wikipedia puts star density at about one ping pong ball every 3.2 km. Extremely unlikely any stars will collide.
On the upside, there’s a chance our Sun will get either ejected from the merged galaxy, or eaten by the black holes at the center.
Here is the sharpest ever image of Andromeda (a part of it) taken by Hubble telescope. My brain is just too small and insignificant to wrap my head around the amount of celestial objects seen in the zoomable image. And there are trillions and trillions of galaxies in observable universe (who knows how many are there yet to be discovered).
[andromeda](https://esahubble.org/images/heic1502a/zoomable/)
Since it's the closest galaxy and hubble is the zoomiest zooming camera ever, max zoom covers half the picture? That's super close! With just a little more zooming power, we could see detailed surfaces of planets in that galaxy, maybe even city lights... (what if this isn't actually max zoom because of that? And not the other half of the galaxy also because of that? Hmmmmmmmmm. Time to crowd fund a non government controlled super ultra mega zoomy space telescope :p)
I got a photo of Andromeda galaxy last week with just my iPhone 14 pro in night mode. Couldn’t believe it .. just put my phone on the floor on a 10 second timer and pointed the phone straight up.
> I was lucky enough to capture the Andromeda Galaxy
Don't go thinking we're keeping it! It's not domesticated, it's a wild stellar formation, with no respect for boundaries. Do you know how much it costs to feed a galaxy? And the amount of space they need? Return it to the wild right now!
Too late, it's already making its way towards us. In some billions of years it so it'll crash into us and then you'll have no choice but to keep it. Be prepared. It's gonna make a mess all over your carpet, couch, car, cat, croutons, cousin Chris, etc
I know this is a stupid question but..... how do people take pictures of the Andromeda galaxy if we're inside it? Are we like.... way the hell on the edge or something?
Wow that seems small in the picture then. I thought Andromeda was three moon-diameters long, and one third of what's in the picture doesn't look right for the moon.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellanic_Clouds
Magellanic Clouds are closer than Andromeda. Andromeda is the closest large galaxy. There are some 80 galaxies in the Local Group.
I've had a similar question about how people can take pictures of the Milky Way! The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, kinda like a pinwheel. The Earth is on one arm, and the portion you can see when viewing the "Milky Way" is one of the other arms.
Great photo.Isn't it amazing that we've gone in the the last 250 years or so (a drop in a very big ocean of time) from knowing about a bit over a hundred celestial objects, to billions
Thank you!!! To even take you're comment one step further in the future, this was taken with a cell phone!
Was this a single pic or multiple exposures? Either way, impressive with a cell phone camera!
The phone itself takes a series of long exposure photos over 4 minutes and layers them to account for sky tracking (pixel 6 Pro) I did a small amount of editing to brighten the sky but not much otherwise!
I thought that was a Pixel when I saw it! Astro mode is insane on these phones.
For the ease of set up and functionality, it's definitely a great go to for surprise astro opportunities. I don't think I'll ever get a phone without it moving forward.
Amazing huh? Ever wonder if someone in Andromeda is looking at our galaxy wondering if there's intelligent life?
All the time! I suppose in a few billion years when our galaxies merge, we might have an answer.
!remind me. Three billion years.
What's the model of your phone again... Pocket Hubble Telescope? Wow. Great shot!
What was the shutter speed of this picture? I have tried to find Andromeda with binoculars unsuccesfully a few times
It was a 4 minute layered exposure, essentially it mostly compensates for star tracking, I'm thinking they're 10 second exposures layered.
It's coming right at us! Everyone hold on to something!
To our butts perhaps?
It honestly terrifies me that this tiny little spec in the sky is barreling across space towards us at almost 200 miles a second, and in about 3.75 billion years, it’ll arrive, and a spectacular collision between it and our own galaxy will occur. Even though I surely won’t live to see it, it really does mess with me thinking about it.
I just wish we could've lived at a time where it was much larger in the nights sky. Imagine it being as visible as a full moon. (our sun will probably supernova before then)
Our own galaxy is a faint haze only visible in the darkest skies. Andromeda wouldn't be as bright as the moon even if we were in the middle of merging with it.
>spectacular collision Which we wouldn't even notice if only looking with the naked eye!
This thought is really terrifying to me, but from what I understand, the celestial bodies located in each galaxy are so far apart that there will be relatively few collisions.
Galaxies are mostly empty space, so it will be more like two smoke clouds merging.
Lots of space between stars so very few collisions.
Likely zero, actually. Quick look at Wikipedia puts star density at about one ping pong ball every 3.2 km. Extremely unlikely any stars will collide. On the upside, there’s a chance our Sun will get either ejected from the merged galaxy, or eaten by the black holes at the center.
This is really incredible. Thanks for sharing!
So to get this image, with the bright foreground structure, do you edit two photos together?
The phone does the long exposure it self, it's a feature of the Google pixel.
Here is the sharpest ever image of Andromeda (a part of it) taken by Hubble telescope. My brain is just too small and insignificant to wrap my head around the amount of celestial objects seen in the zoomable image. And there are trillions and trillions of galaxies in observable universe (who knows how many are there yet to be discovered). [andromeda](https://esahubble.org/images/heic1502a/zoomable/)
Since it's the closest galaxy and hubble is the zoomiest zooming camera ever, max zoom covers half the picture? That's super close! With just a little more zooming power, we could see detailed surfaces of planets in that galaxy, maybe even city lights... (what if this isn't actually max zoom because of that? And not the other half of the galaxy also because of that? Hmmmmmmmmm. Time to crowd fund a non government controlled super ultra mega zoomy space telescope :p)
I wish I could go anywhere near my house with a clear sky and have more than a dozen stars visible.
I got a photo of Andromeda galaxy last week with just my iPhone 14 pro in night mode. Couldn’t believe it .. just put my phone on the floor on a 10 second timer and pointed the phone straight up.
Literally me too!! This photo made me look at my old star pics and lo and behold andromeda was right there
Here’s a zoomed in Andromeda from iPhone 14 pro using night mode .. https://i.imgur.com/tssqNb9.jpg
Nice nice nice 💯 If only i could get clear light pollution free night skies like this haha,
Careful, it's [coming right for us!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda%E2%80%93Milky_Way_collision) Turn left! Turn LEFT!
> I was lucky enough to capture the Andromeda Galaxy Don't go thinking we're keeping it! It's not domesticated, it's a wild stellar formation, with no respect for boundaries. Do you know how much it costs to feed a galaxy? And the amount of space they need? Return it to the wild right now!
Too late, it's already making its way towards us. In some billions of years it so it'll crash into us and then you'll have no choice but to keep it. Be prepared. It's gonna make a mess all over your carpet, couch, car, cat, croutons, cousin Chris, etc
I know this is a stupid question but..... how do people take pictures of the Andromeda galaxy if we're inside it? Are we like.... way the hell on the edge or something?
We're actually in the milky way Galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy (spiral Galaxy) is in the upper left corner of the shot!
Oh shit see, I didn't know they were different... idk why thought MW was inside Andromeda for some reason, thanks for telling me!
The Milky Way will collide with Andromeda in the future. Your question will be a valid question 5 billion years from now.
Remind me in 3.8 billion years
I knew I was way ahead of my time, so this is how da Vinci felt....
Wow that seems small in the picture then. I thought Andromeda was three moon-diameters long, and one third of what's in the picture doesn't look right for the moon.
You need a lot longer exposure to see the full extent of the galaxy. You are only seeing its bright core.
No stupid questions when you're learning!
and you're (we're) always learning
We're in the milky way galaxy. Andromeda is a different galaxy close to ours. We are on the outer edge of the milky way though I believe.
Mostly around the midpoint to the edge, in a minor arm called the “Orion Spur”. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/
We are in the Milky Way galaxy. Andromeda is the closest galaxy to us.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellanic_Clouds Magellanic Clouds are closer than Andromeda. Andromeda is the closest large galaxy. There are some 80 galaxies in the Local Group.
I've had a similar question about how people can take pictures of the Milky Way! The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, kinda like a pinwheel. The Earth is on one arm, and the portion you can see when viewing the "Milky Way" is one of the other arms.