Themergerof the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy wo n’t happen for another 4 billion years , but the recent discovery of a massive annulus of spicy gas around Andromeda may imply our galaxies are already affecting .
Andromeda ’s ring is gargantuan . Extending for at least 2 million clear old age , if we could see in our Nox sky it would be 100 multiplication the diameter of the Moon or 50 degrees across ! Credit : NASA
University of Notre Dame astrophysicistNicholas Lehnerled a team of scientists using theHubble Space Telescopeto key out an tremendous ring of hot , ionized gun at least 2 million calorie-free years in diam surrounding the extragalactic nebula .
TheAndromeda Galaxyis the largest extremity of a ragtag assembling of some 54 galaxies , including the Milky Way , called theLocal Group . With a trillion stars — doubly as many as the Milky Way — it glint 25 % bright and can easily be seen with the naked eye from suburban and rural sky .
Six examples of quasars photographed with the Hubble . quasi-stellar radio source are remote , magnificent sources of light , believed to happen when a massive black hole in the center of a galaxy feeds on gas and star topology . As the black cakehole take in the cloth , it give off acute radiation , which is then detected as a quasar . Lehner and squad measure Andromeda ’s annulus by studying how its gas sham the light from 18 different quasars . cite : NASA / ESA
mean about this for a minute . If the halo extend at least a million light years in our direction , our two galaxies are MUCH closer to touching that antecedently thought . grant , we ’re only talking aura fundamental interaction at first , but the two may be commix molecules even now if our galaxy is similarly cocooned .
Lehner discover halos as the “ gaseous atmospheres of galaxy ” . Despite its enormous size , Andromeda ’s glory is well-nigh inconspicuous . To receive and study the glory , the team sought out quasars , upstage star - like objects that glow tremendous quantity of DOE as matter funnel into the supermassive black muddle in their cores . The brightest quasi-stellar radio source , 3C273 in Virgo , can be seen in a 6 - column inch scope ! Their brilliant , nail nature make them perfect probes .
To find Andromeda ’s nimbus , Lehner and squad consider how the igniter of 18 quasars ( five point here ) was steep by the wandflower ’s gasolene . mention : NASA
“ As the Inner Light from the quasars travel toward Hubble , the halo ’s gas will absorb some of that light and make the quasar seem a little gloomy in just a very small wavelength range , ” said J. Christopher Howk , associate degree professor of physics at Notre Dame and co - investigator . “ By measuring the dip in smartness , we can assure how much halo gasolene from M31 there is between us and that quasar . ”
Astronomers have observed anchor ring around 44 other galaxies but never one as monolithic as Andromeda where so many quasars are useable to clearly define its extent . The previous 44 were all extremely distant galaxies , with only a unmarried quasi-stellar radio source or information item to determine aura size and bodily structure .
Andromeda ’s close and huge with lots of quasars peppering its periphery . The team drew from about five years ’ worth of observations of archived Hubble information to find many of the 18 object needed for a good sample .
This illustration shows a leg in the predicted merger between our Milky Way wandflower and the neighboring Andromeda coltsfoot , as it will open over the next several billion twelvemonth . In this image , present Earth ’s night sky in 3.75 billion age , Andromeda ( left ) fills the field of operations of view and begins to distort the Milky Way with tidal pull . deferred payment : NASA ; ESA ; Z. Levay and R. van der Marel , STScI ; T. Hallas ; and A. Mellinger
The ring is estimated to contain half the mass of the stars in the Andromeda galaxy itself , in the form of a red-hot , diffuse throttle . Simulations indicate that it form at the same metre as the rest of the Galax urceolata . Although mostly composed of ionise atomic number 1 — naked protons and electrons — Andromeda ’s aura is also rich in heavy elements , credibly render by supernova . They erupt within the seeable galax and violently blow expert stuff and nonsense like branding iron , atomic number 14 , oxygen and other familiar elements far into space . Over Andromeda ’s lifetime , nearly half of all the heavy elements made by its virtuoso have been expelled far beyond the galax ’s 200,000 - lightsome - yr - diameter stellar magnetic disk .
The next exonerated dark you look up to snoop Andromeda , acknowledge this : It ’s closer than you think !
For more on the topic , here are links toLehner ’s paperin the Astrophysical Journal and theHubble spillage .
This article byBob Kingoriginally appeared onUniverse Today . It has been republished by permission .
AstronomyMilky Way
Daily Newsletter
Get the upright tech , scientific discipline , and culture word in your inbox daily .
News from the hereafter , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
