State-of-the-art sky-surveying camera produces exciting early results.
Andromeda, captured by the Zwicky Transient Facility.
The Zwicky Transient Facility, or ZTF, which only went into operation at the Palomar Observatory in California in March last year, has produced a bonanza for astronomers.
To date it has discovered 50 small near-Earth asteroids and more than 1100 supernovae, and surveyed an estimated one billion stars in the Milky Way.
Looking beyond the local galaxy, the ZTF has also turned its attention to its neighbour, Andromeda, 2.5 million light-years away.
By capturing three distinct parts of the visible light spectrum, it provided the raw material for this stunning new view, created by researchers at Caltech.