# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs7AJAHLa9r
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/6926189-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/0e040a5d2e.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-05-31T21:03:19.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Someday I'll be part of your world 🧜‍♀️⁣
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The Milky Way galaxy's largest neighbor – Andromeda – lies 2.5 million light-years away, relatively close in cosmic terms. Spanning over 260,000 light-years across, more than double our own galaxy, this ultraviolet view of Andromeda needed 11 different image segments stitched together to capture the galaxy in its entirety. Astronomers believe our two galaxies will eventually merge in about 4 billion years.⁣
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Captured by Galaxy Evolution Explorer, this view shows different stages of star formation, where hot, young, massive stars reside in blue-white rings, outlining cooler blue-gray dusty areas in Andromeda where star formation occurs. These dusty lanes will be scattered to stellar winds as newly forming stars ignite their fusion cores.⁣
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Image description: The Andromeda galaxy appears with countless dots in blue, white, and gray rings. The bands are larger on the galaxy's outer reaches and get smaller moving toward the galaxy's center, which appears hazy white. Many yellow stars surround the galaxy. On the left and top of the image, black spots appear, showing places where the image was stitched together.⁣
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech⁣
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#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Galaxy #Universe #Andromeda #MilkyWay

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## Tags

astronomy, andromeda, nasa, universe, space, milkyway, galaxy

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