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Andromeda

All articles tagged with #andromeda

Andromeda's Light Lets Us See a 2.5-Million-Year Moment
space1 month ago

Andromeda's Light Lets Us See a 2.5-Million-Year Moment

Seeing Andromeda with the naked eye means viewing light that began its journey about 2.5 million years ago—the era when early Homo in Africa were first making stone tools; Andromeda (M31) is the Local Group’s largest galaxy and the farthest naked-eye object at 2.5 million light-years, approaching the Milky Way at ~110 km/s with a predicted merger in ~4.5 billion years; the visible glow is the bright core, while deep images reveal hundreds of millions of stars, illustrating astronomy as time travel into the past.

via Space Daily|
#andromeda#astronomy#human-evolution
Bridenstine Named Quantum Space CEO to Drive Ranger’s National-Security Push
commercial2 months ago

Bridenstine Named Quantum Space CEO to Drive Ranger’s National-Security Push

Former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine is joining Quantum Space as CEO, with Kerry Wisnosky remaining president to focus on operations and spacecraft development. Bridenstine says Ranger’s high maneuverability and refuelability make it attractive for national-security applications, in line with DARPA’s LASSO program and Space Force’s Andromeda program, with the first Ranger launch planned for Q2 2027. The Artemis Group will continue under senior partner Gabe Sherman as Quantum Space expands partnerships amid rising space-defense spending.

via SpaceNews|
#andromeda#commercial#jim-bridenstine
Andromeda star quietly collapses into a black hole, archival data reveal
space4 months ago

Andromeda star quietly collapses into a black hole, archival data reveal

Astronomers using archival NEOWISE infrared data have captured the clearest evidence yet that a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy directly collapsed into a black hole, after brightening in infrared for about three years and leaving a dust shell; the event (M31-2014-DS1) from 2014 suggests some massive stars die without a supernova, refining ideas about stellar deaths.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|
#andromeda#archival-data#black-hole
Andromeda Star Quietly Forms a Black Hole Without a Supernova
science4 months ago

Andromeda Star Quietly Forms a Black Hole Without a Supernova

Astronomers tracked a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31-2014-DS1) that brightened in infrared in 2014, then faded and effectively disappeared by 2022–2023, indicating it collapsed into a black hole rather than exploding in a supernova. The remaining dust and gas emit a long-lasting mid-infrared glow as material slowly falls back, a process driven by convection that delays accretion and explains the dimming over decades. This event, linked to a similar case (NGC 6946-BH1), supports a broader class of failed supernovae and improves understanding of how some massive stars end their lives.

via ScienceDaily|
#andromeda#astronomy#blackholes
Flat Dark Matter Sheet Nudges Andromeda Toward the Milky Way
science5 months ago

Flat Dark Matter Sheet Nudges Andromeda Toward the Milky Way

A Nature Astronomy study finds that a vast, flat sheet of dark matter surrounding the Milky Way and Andromeda reshapes local gravity, slowing the motion of closer galaxies and accelerating more distant ones, which explains why Andromeda is on a collision course with the Milky Way and underscores dark matter’s key role in the dynamics of our cosmic neighborhood.

via The Daily Galaxy|
#andromeda#cosmic-voids#dark-matter
Flat dark-matter sheet explains Andromeda’s inbound motion amid receding neighbors
space5 months ago

Flat dark-matter sheet explains Andromeda’s inbound motion amid receding neighbors

A Nature Astronomy study using local-universe simulations finds a vast, flat sheet of dark matter surrounding the Local Group that counteracts the Milky Way–Andromeda attraction. This sheet’s gravity pulls nearby galaxies outward, explaining why Andromeda is approaching us while other nearby galaxies are receding with cosmic expansion, reconciling observations with the standard cosmological model.

via Live Science|
#andromeda#cosmology#dark-matter
Local Group Lies in a Giant Dark-Matter Sheet, New Study Finds
science5 months ago

Local Group Lies in a Giant Dark-Matter Sheet, New Study Finds

A Nature Astronomy study using a virtual twin of the Local Group proposes that the Milky Way and its neighboring galaxies are embedded in a vast, sheet-like distribution of dark matter bordered by cosmic voids. This flat geometry could explain peculiar motions that spherical dark matter halos struggle to account for, with simulations aligning with observed galaxy dynamics.

via Yahoo|
#andromeda#dark-matter#galaxy-dynamics
Andromeda’s Vanished Star Triggers Black Hole or Merger Theories
space5 months ago

Andromeda’s Vanished Star Triggers Black Hole or Merger Theories

A 13-solar-mass yellow supergiant in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31-2014-DS1) brightened in 2014 but faded by 2018 without a canonical supernova. Two studies offer competing explanations: one proposes a failed supernova—a direct collapse into a black hole shrouded in dust that hides X‑ray emissions—leaving a faint red source surrounded by a dust shell. A second team questions this, noting no X‑ray activity and suggesting a stellar merger could produce the observed infrared glow and dust, with the central source possibly reappearing as the dust dissipates. Ongoing JWST observations and further monitoring are needed to confirm whether the star collapsed invisibly, merged, or will brighten again.

via The Daily Galaxy|
#andromeda#astronomy#black-hole
Roberts’ 1888 Andromeda Photo: A Spiral Revealed Without Space Telescopes
science5 months ago

Roberts’ 1888 Andromeda Photo: A Spiral Revealed Without Space Telescopes

An 1888 photograph by Isaac Roberts using a 510 mm reflector captured Andromeda, revealing its spiral structure long before space telescopes—demonstrating that innovative tracking and long exposures with modest gear could unveil galaxy details; the piece compares Roberts’ work to modern Hubble imagery, notes his invention of copper-plate stellar maps, and mentions his telescope is in the Science Museum while encouraging learning astrophotography today.

via Hackaday|
#andromeda#astronomy#astrophotography
Voyager Probes' Fate in Galaxy Collision
science10 months ago

Voyager Probes' Fate in Galaxy Collision

In about four billion years, the Milky Way will merge with the Andromeda galaxy, and while Voyager 1 and 2 will drift in interstellar space long after their power supplies fail, their survival through the collision is uncertain, with risks from stellar encounters, interstellar dust, gravitational deflections, and structural degradation, though they may persist as scattered remnants or debris, symbolizing humanity's first interstellar artifacts.

via WION|
#andromeda#galaxy-collision#milky-way