Piotr Czerski’s photograph, titled "Andromeda and Friends," appeared on the APOD website on November 15 and showcases the breathtaking beauty of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) along with its satellite galaxies.
APOD, run by NASA since 1995, features a single astronomical image each day, highlighting remarkable cosmic phenomena or exceptional astrophotography from around the world. Czerski’s work joins a long tradition of imagery selected for its scientific value, artistic quality, or both.
Czerski’s "Andromeda and Friends" captures the closest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, a sprawling island of stars located approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth. The photograph also includes Andromeda’s two best-known satellite galaxies, M32 and M110, which orbit the massive spiral system.
According to NASA: "What makes the image particularly striking are the delicate hydrogen clouds faintly visible behind Andromeda’s disk and the cosmic dust surrounding the galaxy."
As Piotr Czerski noted, the final result is the product of "60 hours of exposure time, accumulated over several nights using an amateur telescope, an impressive achievement in deep-sky astrophotography."
Polish astrophotographers have gained notable recognition from NASA in recent years, and Czerski’s success continues this trend. In 2024 alone, several Polish artists have been featured on APOD, including Ireneusz Nowak, Marzena Rogozińska, Wioleta Gorecka, and Włodzimierz Bubak. The current record holder among Poles is Marcin Rosadziński, who has earned the APOD distinction four times, most recently on August 12.
(aj)
SOURCE: NASA; PAP