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To find and view Edwin Hubble’s 1923 Andromeda discovery image, open ESA/Hubble’s “Snapshots of the star that changed the Universe” page and choose Fullsize Original under Image Formats. In the explanatory collage, the historical glass-plate reproduction is in the lower-right corner; the small Hubble Space Telescope inset is a much later observation.
Choose a way to view the image
ESA/Hubble’s comparison collage
The ESA/Hubble image page offers three versions of its explanatory collage:
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- Fullsize Original: the largest listed option, 2.0 MB.
- Large JPEG: 2.4 MB.
- Screensize JPEG: 455.1 KB, a practical choice for ordinary on-screen viewing.
The file-size labels describe the collage, not a standalone scan of the plate. ESA/Hubble’s illustration outlines the area Hubble imaged and uses an arrow to point to the plate reproduction at bottom right.
NASA’s image record
NASA’s matching image record provides the comparison collage as a 3000 × 2400-pixel JPEG of about 1.97 MB, as well as 200 × 200, 400 × 320, 800 × 640, and 1280 × 1024-pixel versions. These are also sizes of the collage, rather than separate plate scans.
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NASA’s reproduction of the plate
If you want to inspect the historical plate itself rather than the comparison collage, visit NASA’s October 6, 2023 Astronomy Picture of the Day. It links to a digital reproduction of the original glass discovery plate, credited to Carnegie Institution for Science.
How to recognize the 1923 plate
Look for the reproduction of a 4-by-5-inch (approximately 10-by-13-centimeter) glass photographic plate dated October 6, 1923. Edwin Hubble made it with the 100-inch Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson. On the ESA/NASA collage, it is the lower-right panel indicated by an arrow; the small Hubble Space Telescope image is not the discovery plate.
On the plate, Hubble initially marked three spots as novae by writing “N” beside them. He later recognized that the upper-right spot was a Cepheid variable, crossed out the “N,” and wrote “VAR.” NASA’s APOD account describes him noticing the spot’s variation when comparing images and writing “VAR!” on October 6, 1923.
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The variable star, named V1, gave Hubble a way to estimate Andromeda’s distance. That evidence showed that Andromeda lay beyond the Milky Way as a separate galaxy, rather than being a nearby object within it. The ESA/Hubble caption describes Andromeda as approximately 2 million light-years away; that is not the distance Hubble calculated in 1923.
Do not confuse it with later Andromeda images
The comparison collage pairs the plate with a later Hubble Space Telescope observation of the field around V1. NASA says the inset used WFC3 data observed from December 2010 through January 2011, with 1.7 hours of observation. It is a modern observation, not Hubble’s original photographic plate.
NASA’s image library also contains newer Andromeda material, including a 2026 image about star-formation patterns made from Hubble ACS data observed between July 2010 and December 2022. For the historical discovery image, use the explicitly titled ESA/Hubble page or the 2023 APOD plate reproduction rather than a generic Andromeda image search.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Image use and reproduction
The official pages provide digital images for viewing. The cited image records do not establish permission for commercial reuse of the underlying plate; consult the relevant image-hosting institution’s usage guidance before publishing or commercially reproducing it.
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