In the most detailed image of the Andromeda Galaxy yet, the Herschel Space Observatory highlights zones of new star formation, while XMM-Newton pinpoints dying stars.

ESA's Herschel and XMM-Newton space telescopes joined forces over Christmas to reveal the life cycle of stellar birth and death at infrared and X-ray wavelengths respectively. Herschel is sensitive to the far-infrared light emitted by the cool dust and gas clouds that harbour the seeds of new stars. The new image reveals details of a large dust ring some 75,000 light years across that wraps around the centre of the galaxy and which boasts at least five concentric rings of star-forming material. Astronomers speculate that this feature might have resulted from a recent collision with another galaxy.

In XMM-Newton's image, the glow of star death is revealed in hundreds of X-ray sources, many clustered towards the crowded core of the galaxy. Some of the X-ray sources reveal the sites of shockwaves and debris from already exploded stars, others are pairs of stars caught in a gravitational tug-of-war whereby a dying star is ripping material from its neighbour.

The latest image of old friend Andromeda shows just how important space-based images are to reveal the full range of stellar evolution since infrared and X-ray wavelengths are absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, preventing acquisition of ground-based images of the same detail.