Andromeda Galaxy in the Night Sky
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Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler Image Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181217.html |
The Andromeda Galaxy in the Night Sky
The Andromeda Galaxy, also called M31, is far beyond the stars in our Galaxy. At 2.5 million light years from Earth, is still the closet Galaxy to our own. Its name, Andromeda, originates by its geographical location in the sky where we can find it, in the Constellation of Andromeda.
One method some astronomers use to find this galaxy is by jumping from star to star. Sky charts might seem difficult to read for some people because they represent the skies on a much smaller scale than the real thing, and beginners often find it confusing to relate to the stars they see in the sky and those on paper or a screen.
One example is the Square of Pegasus, in the lower right of this top chart, is much larger in the sky than it appears on the chart.
It is essential to have dark skies. For this you would have to be away from any city lights, even the moon would undermine a good star night.
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Credits: Image courtesy of Stellarium |
Make sure to have a red flashlight so you can study your chart, and in this way your eyes will adjust to the dark to see faint objects in the sky. A handheld binocular will be much easier to handle and point than a mounted telescope, for this, a 7X50 or 10X50 is very helpful in jumping from star to star before you attempt it with any telescope.
What is involved with jumping from star to star?
This involves finding a path from bright star patterns to the fainter objects you are looking for. Different observers will find their own paths and you will too through practice. So practice several times with binoculars, and then repeat the path that worked best for you again using the finder of your telescope. With your lowest power eyepiece in place, sweep the area carefully until you detect the faint glow of the Galaxy.
It may take several attempts until you can see the Andromeda Galaxy, since our eyes are not used to looking at such faint objects. Patience is the key to finding deep sky objects. You may not succeed on your first night out, if so, try again the next clear night. Once you get the hand of it, finding Andromeda will become something that you can do with ease every night, and impress your friends and family. Its the first step to a real familiarity with the night sky.
What is the size difference between the Andromeda Galaxy and our own galaxy, The Milky Way?
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Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Imagesource: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Milky_Way_and_ Andromeda_in_space,_to_scale.jpg |
Is the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy on a collision course?
It is expected that the Andromeda Galaxy will one day collide with our own. Sometime in the distant future, about 4 Billion years from now, as both galaxies continue getting closer and closer, their halos will become gravitational entangle and begin a "dance" circling each other, although, observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope and other calculations seem to indicate the the central parts of the galaxies might just miss each other as they become bound by gravity and merge.
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Credit: Wikimedia Commons Here on the left is Andromeda and on the right is our Milky Way galaxy, which areexpected to collide in the distant future, or in about 4-5 billion years from now. |
The individual stars themselves will not collide with each other as there is sufficiently enough space between them to pass by each other without creating any cataclysmic collisions.
The next time you look up at the sky to find the Andromeda galaxy, or any other celestial object, let your wonder and imagination fly knowing that no matter how much we have learned about our universe, it will never be enough to quench our thirst for wanting to know more.
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