Swift’s UV Portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy

NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory viewed our neighboring spiral galaxy Andromeda, also called M31, in ultraviolet light. The image was made from 330 images from Swift’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. Some 20,000 ultraviolet sources are visible in the image, including M32, a small galaxy in orbit around M31. Dense clusters of hot, young, blue stars sparkle in the disk beyond the galaxy's smooth, redder central bulge.