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By some estimates, the Andromeda Galaxy contains roughly one trillion stars. That’s significantly bigger than the Milky Way, which more recent estimates suggest is 150,000 light-years across (though the exact boundary of where either of these galaxies “end” is a bit nebulous).
Is Andromeda older than the Milky Way?
Heart to heart, Andromeda lies 2.5 million light years away from the Milky Way.
Are there galaxies bigger than the Milky Way?
Astronomers using a huge radio telescope in South Africa have found two of the largest known single objects in the Universe. About 22 times larger than our Milky Way, these “giant radio galaxies” were found in a tiny patch of the night sky.
Is Andromeda the biggest galaxy?
The Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which, in addition to the Milky Way, also contains the Triangulum Galaxy and about 30 other smaller galaxies.
What universe is bigger than the Milky Way?
The biggest known galaxy is IC 1101, which is 50 times the Milky Way’s size and about 2,000 times more massive. It is about 5.5 million light-years across. Nebulas, or vast clouds of gas, also have impressively large sizes.
Will the Milky Way collide with Andromeda?
Previous simulations have suggested that Andromeda and the Milky Way are scheduled for a head-on collision in about 4 billion to 5 billion years. But the new study estimates that the two star groups will swoop closely past each other about 4.3 billion years from now and then fully merge about 6 billion years later.
How fast is Andromeda moving towards us?
The Andromeda galaxy is currently racing toward our Milky Way at a speed of about 70 miles (110 km) per second.
How old is our galaxy?
Most galaxies are between 10 billion and 13.6 billion years old. Our universe is about 13.8 billion years old, so most galaxies formed when the universe was quite young! Astronomers believe that our own Milky Way galaxy is approximately 13.6 billion years old.
What is the largest galaxy in the universe?
Located almost a billion light-years away, IC 1101 is the single largest galaxy that has ever been found in the observable universe. Just how large is it? At its largest point, this galaxy extends about 2 million light-years from its core, and it has a mass of about 100 trillion stars.
Will we ever reach Andromeda?
The technology required to travel between galaxies is far beyond humanity’s present capabilities, and currently only the subject of speculation, hypothesis, and science fiction. However, theoretically speaking, there is nothing to conclusively indicate that intergalactic travel is impossible.
Can we see Andromeda from Earth?
At 2.5 million light-years from Earth, the Andromeda Galaxy is the most distant object visible with the naked eye. With the naked eye, Andromeda will be extremely faint. But if you have a pair of binoculars, look through them and you’ll see what looks like a cloud.
What does Andromeda mean in English?
1 : an Ethiopian princess of Greek mythology rescued from a monster by her future husband Perseus. 2 [Latin (genitive Andromedae)] : a northern constellation directly south of Cassiopeia between Pegasus and Perseus.
What galaxy do we live in?
We live in one of the arms of a large spiral galaxy called the Milky Way. The Sun and its planets (including Earth) lie in this quiet part of the galaxy, about half way out from the centre.
How many Milky Ways are in the universe?
Our galaxy is a gravitationally bound collection of stars, swirling in a spiral through space. Based on the deepest images obtained so far, it’s one of about 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe.
What is more than the universe?
The universe is much bigger than it looks, according to a study of the latest observations.
How old is the universe?
The universe is (nearly) 14 billion years old, astronomers confirm. With looming discrepancies about the true age of the universe, scientists have taken a fresh look at the observable (expanding) universe and have estimated that it is 13.77 billion years old (plus or minus 40 million years).
What is the next galaxy after Andromeda?
Andromeda is the closest big galaxy to the Milky Way and is expected to collide with the Milky Way around 4.5 billion years from now. The two will eventually merge into a single new galaxy called Milkdromeda.
Can we leave our galaxy?
Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is a disk of stars about 100,000 light-years across, and about 1,000 light-years thick. So, to leave our Galaxy, we would have to travel about 500 light-years vertically, or about 25,000 light-years away from the galactic centre.
Is the Milky Way moving?
The Milky Way itself is moving through the vastness of intergalactic space. Our galaxy belongs to a cluster of nearby galaxies, the Local Group, and together we are easing toward the center of our cluster at a leisurely 25 miles a second.
Why did Andromeda move toward us?
All things in the Universe are speeding away from us, it’s just that gravity is a much stronger force at local levels. This is why the Solar System holds together, and why Andromeda is moving towards us and in about 4 billion years or so, the Andromeda galaxy is going to slam into the Milky Way.
What is Andromeda the goddess of?
Andromeda, in Greek mythology, beautiful daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiope of Joppa in Palestine (called Ethiopia) and wife of Perseus. Cassiope offended the Nereids by boasting that Andromeda was more beautiful than they, so in revenge Poseidon sent a sea monster to devastate Cepheus’ kingdom.
How many light years away is Andromeda?
2.537 million light years.
What is the oldest thing in the universe?
Astronomers have found the farthest known source of radio emissions in the universe: a galaxy-swallowing supermassive black hole.
What’s the oldest planet?
PSR B12620-26 b The exoplanet known as PSR B12620-26 b is the oldest known planet in the universe, with an estimated age of about 13 billion years.
How old is space?
Scientists’ best estimate is that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old.
