Description
We explore the stellar population of M31 in a Spitzer Space Telescope survey utilizing IRAC and MIPS observations. Red supergiants are the brightest objects seen in the infrared; they are a prominent evolutionary phase. Due to their circumstellar envelopes, many of these radiate the bulk of their luminosity at IRAC wavelengths and do not stand out in the near-infrared or optically. Going fainter, we see large numbers of luminous asymptotic giant branch stars (AGB), many of which are known long-period variables. Relative to M33 the AGB carbon star population of M31 appears sparse, but this needs to be spectroscopically confirmed.
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