The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released a stunning image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Andromeda galaxy. This image was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope, the final mission of NASA’s Great Observatories Program, launched on August 25, 2003.
According to NASA, Spitzer was the first telescope to detect light from an exoplanet, meaning a planet beyond our solar system. It uses a highly sensitive infrared telescope to observe asteroids, comets, planets and distant galaxies.
Returning to the Image shared by NASAHe said the shared image was a compilation of 11,000 snapshots from the retired Spitzer telescope.
In a post shared on InstagramNASA describes that “as supermassive black holes “eat,” the material heats up just before it falls in, creating incredible light shows, sometimes brighter than an entire galaxy full of stars. But the black hole at the center of Andromeda (one of our closest galactic neighbors) is a “silent” eater, meaning the little light it does emit doesn’t vary significantly in brightness. This suggests it’s consuming a small but steady stream of material, rather than large clumps.”
Users commented on the NASA image of the Andromeda galaxy with a mix of curiosity and humor. One wondered if the image was real or generated by AI, another joked about whether eating the galaxy would be a “light” snack.
One user wrote: “Is this image real or was it created by AI?”
Another added: “If I ate the Andromeda galaxy, would that be considered a “light” snack?”
“This gives me peace,” said another user.
“It’s so beautiful,” another user commented.
Meanwhile, on Friday, NASA reassigned a new group of astronauts for its SpaceX Crew-9 mission, ahead of its launch in September 2024. Astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov have been designated as commander and mission specialist respectively for the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which is scheduled to lift off on September 24.
Previously announced NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson have been reassigned to future missions, the space administration said in its latest update. The other astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who launched into space on the Starliner spacecraft in June, will return to Earth with Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025.
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