The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth. It is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way and It gets its name from the area of the sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which was named after the Greek mythological princess Andromeda. So next time you look up at the nights sky and see the distant glimmer of the extragalactic stars, remember these 5 fascinating facts about the Andromeda galaxy!
1 - Andromeda can be seen with the unaided eye, which has meant that it has been known since ancient times. On a clear night with little light pollution, it can be seen as a diffuse blur, with the central region clearly visible through a good pair of binoculars. Larger telescopes provide even more-spectacular views of this impressive galaxy.
2 - Andromeda is the biggest galaxy by volume, it contains around twice the number of stars than our galaxy, the Milky Way, which has around 200-400 billion. Not only does it have a lot more stars than ours, Andromeda is enormous, with a diameter of around 220,000 light years across, which is nearly 1 and half times longer than the Milky Way.
3 - Because Andromeda is so visible on a clear night, astronomers have studied its history for decades. It is estimated to of been born 10 billion years ago out of the merger of many smaller proto galaxies and then, around 8 billion years ago, it collided with another galaxy to form the giant that we see today.
4 - Like our own galaxy, there’s also a super massive black hole at the centre of Andromeda, with two others possibly orbiting as a binary, with a mass around 140 million times that of the Sun. Dozens of smaller black holes are also believed to lye in the centre and many more have been picked out by the Chandra X-ray Observatory though out the galaxy.
5 - Our neighboring galactic bully is on another collision course, but this time with us. Both the Milky Way and Andromeda are moving towards each other at a rate of 75 miles a second, when the collision has been completed, they will merge to form a giant elliptical galaxy. However this is estimated to happen in around 3.75 billion years from now. So nobody has to panic for a low time.
The Andromeda galaxy is heading straight toward our own Milky Way. The two galaxies will inevitably collide. Will that be the very last night sky our solar syste