PIX4608934: Andromede Galaxy - The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) - The Andromede galaxy is located about 2.3 million years ago - light from Earth. Two satellite galaxies accompany it: M32 (NGC 221) at the top left of the nucleus, and M110 (NGC 205) at the bottom. Like the lactee path, the Andromede galaxy belongs to the local group, making up about thirty galaxies. M31, the Great galaxy in Andromeda, is a gigantic collection of more than 300 billion stars and is located about 2 million light years from Earth. Companion dwarf elliptical galaxies M32 and M110 are also visible. M31 and its companions are part of our local group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds, and M33. The Andromeda Galaxy is headed towards our Milky Way Galaxy and is expected to collide with it and possibly merge into a gigantic elliptical galaxy in about 3 billion years / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646038: Satellite Planck. Illustration - Artist's view of the European satellite Planck separating from the upper floor of the Ariane V rocket, 30 minutes after its launch. This satellite measures temperature fluctuations in the fossil radiation of the primordial universe. Planck separates from upper stage. Planck separated from the launcher about 30 minutes after launch, a couple of minutes after Herschel. The two spacecraft independently headed towards their respective orbits around the second Lagrange point of the Sun - Earth system (L2), some 1.5 million km from Earth in the direction opposite to the Sun. Planck is the first european mission to study the relic radiation from the Big Bang. Ever since the detection of small fluctuations in the temperature of this radiation, called Cosmic Microwave Background, astronomers have used the fluctuations to understand both the origin of the Universe and the formation of galaxies / Bridgeman Images