NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 23, 2026 features the Andromeda Galaxy as seen from Mullion, New South Wales, Australia. According to the accompanying explanation, the galaxy never rises more than a few degrees above the horizon when viewed toward the north from that location, but during southern hemisphere spring it is highest in the sky around midnight.

The telephoto scene was captured on October 10/11 using multiple exposures to show the spiral galaxy climbing above rolling Australian hills. Digitally tracked and stacked frames were combined with a foreground shot in the composite image to reveal the galaxy's greater extent in Earth's night sky.

Also known as M31, Andromeda is one of the brightest objects in the Messier catalog, though it appears to the unaided eye only as a small, faint, fuzzy patch. In the springtime skyscape, the explanation states, the closest large spiral galaxy spans nearly 6 full moons. The image is credited to Lucy Yunxi Hu, with Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Robert Nemiroff and Keighley Rockcliffe listed as authors and editors.