Andromeda is the closest large extragalactic nebula to the Milky Way . And it is arrest closer , as the two willmergein several billion years . It has been an target of study for C , but we have never see it like this . TheHubble Space Telescopehas just finished a campaign of reflection that lasted for more than 10 long time , creating the deepest observations of this galaxy ever .
The galaxy is so large that 600 separate fields of prospect had to be assembled in an over-the-top mosaic with 2.5 billion pixels . Hubble was able to answer about 200 million stars , all hot than our Sun . A large number , but still a lilliputian fraction of the galax ’s total star universe . Andromeda is estimated to have 1 trillion wizard . Still , this cliff in the ocean narrate us a fate about the galaxy .
" With Hubble we can get into tremendous particular about what ’s happening on a holistic scale across the entire record of the galaxy . You ca n’t do that with any other tumid beetleweed , " chief researcher Ben Williams of the University of Washington said in astatement .
Andromeda like we have never seen it before.Image credit: NASA, ESA, Benjamin F. Williams (UWashington), Zhuo Chen (UWashington), L. Clifton Johnson (Northwestern); image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
The work has revealed that Andromeda is a lot more disorderly than await . Similar to what late retiredGaiadid for the Milky Way , Hubble spotted the stylemark of a past collision : the comportment of a orotund stellar universe , tenacious streams of wiz , etc .
" Andromeda ’s a wagon train shipwreck . It looks like it has been through some kind of consequence that caused it to form a lot of stars and then just shut down , " tot Daniel Weisz at the University of California , Berkeley . " This was probably due to a hit with another galaxy in the neighborhood . "
It is possible that the compendious satellite of Andromeda known as Messier 32 was the culprit , and that Andromeda steal its little neighbour ’s gas , using it all up to form a peck of new stars .
" Andromeda looks like a transitional type of galaxy that ’s between a star - forming spiral and a kind of elliptical extragalactic nebula dominated by maturate red ace , " say Weisz . " We can tell it ’s got this big key bulge of older star and a star - imprint disk that ’s not as active as you might look ease up the galaxy ’s mass . "
" This detailed look at the resolve asterisk will avail us to piece together the galaxy ’s past merger and interaction history , " added Williams .
you could see the full picture here , and it is deserving have it on the handsome cover you could find to sincerely appreciate the level of detail . We have placed a high resolving version ( but notthe highest ) vertically for ease of scrolling , partially inspired by the infamous Tumblr position " Do you love the colour of the sky ? " We promise you , the scrolling will be worth it .
A paper describing part of the observation , led by Zhuo Chen , is write inThe Astrophysical Journal .
