The Andromeda galaxy is shown in this NASA handout photo released April 29, 2013 from the Herschel space observatory. Cool lanes of forming stars are revealed in the finest detail yet. Herschel is a European Space Agency mission with important NASA participation. Andromeda, also known as M31, is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way at a distance of 2.5 million light-years, making it an ideal natural laboratory to study star formation and galaxy evolution according to NASA. [Photo/Agencies] |