Galaxies · Galaxy · spiral galaxy
Andromeda in Hubble’s largest mosaic: a blue outer disc, a yellowish centre and dark dust lanes.
Featured palette: Hubble PHAST panorama, 2025 (Sampled from this image)
#6F5F59#000000#5E4F54#352D38#121016#91786B#CBB396
Credit: NASA, ESA, B. Williams (University of Washington). · released 16 January 2025
About Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, about 2.5 million light-years away according to the image publisher.
| Classification | Galaxy (spiral galaxy) |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | M31, NGC 224 |
| Distance | 2.0 million light-yearsdistance stated by the image publisher · ESA/Hubble |
| Observed light (this view) | g, I |
Why these colours?
A galaxy is not one swatch
Hubble’s panorama combines a visible and a near-infrared filter across more than 600 snapshots. The palette summarises this view: bluish outer regions, yellow inner disc and the black between mosaic tiles.
From: Hubble PHAST panorama, 2025 Multiwavelength composite
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Andromeda Galaxy.
Hubble PHAST panorama, 2025
Sampled from this image · Hubble PHAST panorama, 2025
#6F5F59RGB 111, 95, 89region average#000000RGB 0, 0, 029% of the region#5E4F54RGB 94, 79, 8419% of the region#352D38RGB 53, 45, 5618% of the region#121016RGB 18, 16, 2216% of the region#91786BRGB 145, 120, 10710% of the region#CBB396RGB 203, 179, 1508% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Andromeda Galaxy
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Andromeda Dusk
Inspired by this object
#2E2E2ERGB 46, 46, 46from #000000#504D55RGB 80, 77, 85from #121016#786E7BRGB 120, 110, 123from #352D38#A39298RGB 163, 146, 152from #5E4F54#D4B9ABRGB 212, 185, 171from #91786B#FDE3C5RGB 253, 227, 197from #CBB396
Andromeda’s blues and golds spread from dust lane to bright core.
Explore the views
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Questions about Andromeda Galaxy’s colours
Why is Andromeda blue at the edge and yellow in the middle?
That is how this composite shows it, as the publisher’s description notes: the outer disc blue and the inner two-thirds yellowish. The colours come from a visible and a near-infrared filter.
Sources
- Galaxies — NASA
- Hubble’s panoramic view of the Andromeda Galaxy — ESA/Hubble
Image credits
- Hubble PHAST panorama, 2025: NASA, ESA, B. Williams (University of Washington). CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 8b501c90c67f2441208cb56e65f341aaf1655b693d5b658e6cf682dcf5ee8135).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision 3df91b232d26. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.