WASHINGTON, USA, Sept. 27, 2026 - NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for 27 September set raw and processed images of the Andromeda galaxy side by side.^[1][2] The source images were captured by photographer Kees Scherer, who stacked 223 exposures of 300 seconds each at an observatory in Portugal in 2019.^[3] The entry also explained the digital editing steps behind modern astrophotography.^[4] NASA said growing numbers of satellite launches and light pollution are making this kind of processing increasingly necessary for ground-based astronomy.^[5] Space Nugget. Andromeda is the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and can be seen with the naked eye from a dark site. A single exposure collects little light and a lot of noise, so astrophotographers stack many exposures, averaging away random noise and satellite trails, and then stretch the brightness to bring out faint dust lanes and the galaxy's outer disc.