The estimated distance of the Andromeda Galaxy from our own was doubled in 1953 when it was discovered that there is another, dimmer type of Cepheid variable star. When will we collide with the Andromeda Galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is about 2.2 million (2.2 x 10 6) light years from the Milky Way Galaxy. This does not influence our choices. His result placed the Andromeda Nebula far outside our galaxy at a distance of about 450kpc (1,500kly). Although the light year is a commonly used unit, astronomers prefer a different unit called the parsec (pc). He's a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. His catalog listed objects to avoid when comet-hunting. In 1864 William Huggins noted that the spectrum of Andromeda differed from that of a gaseous nebula. Light As A Cosmic Time Machine by Andrew Fraknoi - PBS It is located about 2,480,000 light-years from Earth; its diameter is approximately 200,000 light-years; and it shares various characteristics with the Milky Way system. For centuries astronomers regarded the Andromeda Galaxy as a component of the Milky Way Galaxyi.e., as a so-called spiral nebula much like other glowing masses of gas within the local galactic system (hence the misnomer Andromeda Nebula). The Milky Way's largest globular cluster, Omega Centauri, visible from the far southern U.S. and points south, packs 10 million into a spherical swarm 150 light-years wide some 15,000 light years away. EarthSky | Andromeda galaxy: All you need to know Searching the photographic record, 11 more novae were discovered. Robin Barnard et al. Andromeda is already closer, seems bigger, and its gravitational force has begun to warp the Milky Way's plane. The Andromeda Galaxy is one of the few visible to the unaided eye, appearing as a milky blur. Here are their distances from us: Large Magellanic Cloud - 179 thousand light years away Small Magellanic Cloud - 210 thousand light-years away Andromeda Galaxy - 2.9 million light-years away One light year is the distance that light travels in one year in a vacuum at a speed of 186,000 miles per second or about 5,880,000,000,000 miles! The distances between the stars are, therefore, much greater within the newly discovered extended clusters. Think about playing golf or baseball or tennis the movement of the ball changes when you dont hit it head on. 21 October 1997. Edwin Hubble ultimately put the matter to rest in the '20s when he utilized Cepheid variable stars in the Andromeda Galaxy to prove that there are island universes beyond the Milky Way's limits. How far away is the Andromeda Galaxy? - WisdomAdvices Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and Why Looking At The Stars Is A Look Back In Time - Forbes Which Galaxies Are Nearest To The Earth? - WorldAtlas This collision stripped more than half the mass from the smaller M32 and created the ring structures in Andromeda. The Ultimate List of TV Shows set in Space or on Other Planets, The Planets and Moons of Star Wars to Scale. [42][43], The Andromeda Galaxy was formed roughly 10 billion years ago from the collision and subsequent merger of smaller protogalaxies.[44]. The Andromeda Galaxy looms big in our night sky, as seen from Earth during its visits.
how far away is the andromeda galaxy in miles