How to find the Andromeda nebula in the sky. Spiral Galaxy Andromeda: scientific facts and speculation

> Messier 31: Andromeda Galaxy

Spiral Andromeda galaxy(M 31) – neighbor of the Milky Way: description, photo, distance, how to find, interesting facts, member of the Local Group, collision.

Messier 31(Andromeda Galaxy, NGC 224) is a spiral galaxy located 2.54 light years away. Occupies a place in the constellation of the same name. This is the closest galaxy to ours, whose apparent magnitude reaches 3.44.

Description of the Andromeda Galaxy in the Messier catalog:

The most beautiful Andromeda belt nebula, shaped like a spindle. Charles Messier examined it using various instruments, but never recognized it as a star. Visually, it looks like two light cones or pyramids, the axes of which are located in the direction from northwest to southeast. The two light peaks are 40 arcminutes apart, and the common base of the pyramids is about 15'. This nebula was discovered by Simon Marius and studied by various astronomers. Le Gentil drew up a drawing of the nebula, which was published in the Memoirs of the Academy of 1759 on page 453 (diameter 40’).

Additionally, Flammarion reports that Messier added information about the M 31 nebula to his personal copy of the catalog by hand: I used various tools. In particular, an excellent 30-foot Gregorian telescope, a large six-inch mirror and a 104x magnifier. with a certain degree of confidence we can say that there are no stars in the center of this nebula. The light dims gradually until it disappears completely. Previous measurements were made using a 4.5-foot Newtonian telescope equipped with a micrometer silk thread.

Observational data, physical characteristics of the Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda was a Greek princess. According to myth, her parents chained her to a rock to give her away sea ​​monster and save the kingdom. But Perseus saved the girl. The galaxy is found quickly because it is a bright object adjacent to two recognizable asterisms: Pegasus Great Square and Cassiopeia. In terms of brightness it is surpassed only by and.

M 31 is the largest and most massive member, which includes our galaxy and 40 others. Andromeda is twice as large and houses a trillion stars. In about 3.75 billion years, they will collide and form a new elliptical or disk galaxy.

Andromeda is surrounded by approximately 14 satellite galaxies. It is believed that it previously collided with M 32, causing the second to lose its stellar disk and activate star formation in the center. Not long ago this activity stopped.

For many centuries it was believed that Andromeda is a nebula and is part of our galaxy. Doubts arose in 1917, when Heber Curtis spotted a galaxy within a galaxy in an image and tracked 11 novae. He realized that they were 10 magnitudes fainter than objects in other areas, and said that they were 500,000 light years away.

Curtis quickly supported new theory, which argued that spiral nebulae are separate and full-fledged galaxies. It was called the “island universes” hypothesis (the term was coined by Immanuel Kant). In 1920, Curtis took part in the Great Debate, where he discussed the nature of spiral nebulae and the size of the universe with Harlow Shapley. Shapley believed that the Universe was represented solely by our galaxy, while Curtis argued for galactic multiplicity.

Until 1923, no one knew the true nature of the Andromeda Galaxy. Thanks to Edwin Hubble, we were able to calculate the distance between us and our neighbor. To do this, I used Cepheid variables located outside our galaxy. The first estimates placed Andromeda at 750,000 light years.

Stars were first resolved by Walter Baade in 1943. He also identified two types of population: I and II. He guessed that each type had its own type of Cepheid, which doubled the age of M31.

Collision between the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way

You might not know, but in the distant future will happen collision of the Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way. M 31 is moving towards us with an acceleration of 110 km/s. The collision should occur in 4 billion years. It is believed that before the final merger, our system will move to a new location in Andromeda.

Facts about the Andromeda Galaxy

Let's find out more interesting facts about the Andromeda galaxy. M 31 appeared after the collision of two small galaxies 5-9 billion years ago. In 2012, a new study appeared proving that the event occurred 10 billion years ago, and protogalaxies were involved. Because of this, most of it is rich in metals and an expanded disk has formed.

All this led to the activation of the birth of new stars, which is why M 31 should have glowed brightly for 100 million years. Even now it is noticeable that it emits most in the infrared region, and its average luminosity lasts 100 billion solar days.

2-4 billion ago M 33 and M 31 crashed, causing new wave formation of stars in the galactic disk of Andromeda and deforming the outer disk of M 33. You can notice that the gas disk in M ​​31 rotates in the opposite direction with respect to the central region filled with young stars.

The earliest references come from Abdurrahman al-Sufi, who wrote about Andromeda in 964. He called her "Little Cloud".

If we talk about reports, the first records appeared on December 15, 1612 from Simon Marius: “It seems that I have discovered a fixed star located near the northern one in the Andromeda belt. If you don't use technology, it looks like a nebula. But with a telescope the stars are not noticeable. In the center there is a pale glow at ¼ degree. I can’t say for sure whether it’s new or not.”

Charles Messier believed that the credit for the discovery of M 31 should go to Marius and did not even know about the ancient observations of the Persian astronomer. He wrote: “From August 3-4, 1764, there were excellent conditions and I was able to study the wonderful nebula found by Marius. I used various tools to study, but the stars are difficult to see. Two bright points are visible, separated by 40 arc minutes. I watched her for 15 years and did not notice any changes.”

On August 6, 1780, William Herschel saw her for the first time. He believed that it was much closer: “There is no doubt that the nebula in the Andromeda belt is the closest. The width stretches 16'. The brightest part shows a red glow. This proves that it is only 2000 times further than Sirius. Nearby is M110, found by my sister Caroline on August 27, 1783.”

In September 1833, William Henry Smith wrote: “The nebula is located under the belt of Andromeda and is surrounded by many telescopic stars. Under good weather conditions, it can be observed with the naked eye along an imaginary line from Alamak to Mirak. It is considered the oldest nebula, which was written about back in 905. Marius rediscovered it and explored it in 1612. He was struck by the singularity of the phenomenon. He thought he saw the flame of a candle, and Messier saw two cones or pyramids, noting that the center was brighter than the edges.

The satellite (Messier 32) was found in November 1749. Guillaume Legentil did this, adding that the observed light is much weaker. Messier looked at it in 1764 and noted that no changes were detected. It's practically round."

William Haggis noted in 1834 that the spectrum of M 31 differed from that of a gaseous nebula. This was the first proof of its stellar nature. The first and only supernova was observed in 1885 - SN 1885A. Then it was believed that M 31 was closer, so they designated the event as Nova 1885. Such objects are inferior in brightness to supernovae and display nuclear explosions on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary system.

The first photographs of the galaxy were taken by Isaac Roberts in 1887, demonstrating the spiral structure. But the object continued to be called a nebula.

The galaxy is notable for hosting the brightest globular cluster in the Local Group, G1, which contains several million stars. Its apparent magnitude reaches 13.72, making it brighter than Omega Centauri. It can be found with a 10-inch telescope. Due to its mass and stellar population, it is confused by some with the core of a dwarf galaxy.

Overall, there are 450 globular clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy. In terms of apparent brightness, G76 (in the southwest) is ahead of everyone. In 2006, another massive globular cluster was found - 037-B327. Its properties are similar to G1.

There is the star cloud NGC 206, recorded in William Herschel's catalog as H V.36 (October 17, 1786). The galaxy has a noticeable double nucleus, discovered in 1991 by the Hubble telescope. The second could be from another galaxy, or it could be an illusion created by a dust haze.

In 2012, the first extragalactic microquasar was found on the territory of M 31. The signals came from a black hole with a mass 10 times that of the sun. Very often the Andromeda galaxy is used in various science fiction works.

Location of the Andromeda Galaxy

How to find the Andromeda galaxy in the night sky? There are no difficulties with the search, because it is located between two notable asterisms: W in Cassiopeia and the Great Square of Pegasus. In the constellation Andromeda there are stars united in a chain. Alpheratz comes first, then Delta Andromeda, Mirach and Andromeda Gamma. M 31 is located 8 degrees northwest of Mirakh. It can be found without using tools.

Planets of the Andromeda Galaxy

The planetary candidate first appeared in 2009. It was found using the gravitational microlensing method (you can find small objects against the background of large ones). It was noticed back in 2004 and was 6-7 times larger than Jupiter in mass. But in 2009 it turned out that this more like a star and a smaller satellite.

Size and type of Andromeda galaxy

You should study the characteristics of M 31. The Andromeda Galaxy belongs to the SA (s) b class. These indicators are based on data from 2MASS, which has been studying the sky from 1997-2001. in three infrared wavelengths. Scientists saw that there was a bar inside, and the object was a spiral-type galaxy. In 2005, a large extended stellar disk was found, extending in diameter to 220,000 light years.

The galaxy is located at an inclination of 77 degrees relative to us. Gravitational contact deformed its flat disk into an S shape. Spiral arms were first explored by Walter Baade. He discovered that the two arms are much wider apart than in our galaxy.

Detailed studies have revealed a typical spiral-type galaxy, with arms turning clockwise. They are separated by 13,000 light years, and the pattern is distorted due to gravitational interaction with M 32 and M 110.

Infrared images from 1998 showed that it may be a ring galaxy. Internal gas and dust form several rings, one of which is the most prominent. Located 32,000 light years from the core and appears in visible light images. The sleeves extend from the bar and have a segmented structure.

M 32 passed through the disk of the Milky Way and transmitted most of its mass. It is noticeable that the stars in the halo are not rich in metal. Most likely, both objects experienced similar evolutionary stages: over 12 billion years, each of them managed to absorb 100-200 small galaxies.

The core is home to a compact star cluster. The core itself consists of two concentrations (P1 and P2), separated by 4.9 light years. P2 is inferior in brightness and falls to the center, but P1 is brighter and shifted. P2 also houses a black hole 140 million times the mass of the Sun.

Blue stars orbit for only 200 million years and may have appeared close to the black hole during a burst of star formation. The small cluster is surrounded by a huge double core, an elliptical ring of evolving red stars. The further they are in orbit, the slower they rotate.

In total, Andromeda has 35 stellar-mass black holes, 7 of which are located within 1000 light years from the center. They were created after the collapse of massive stars, and their mass is 5-10 times that of the Sun.

Take a close look at photos of the Andromeda spiral galaxy (M 31) or use our telescopes and online 3D models showing galaxy stars and constellations.

Andromeda Galaxy (or Andromeda, Andromeda Nebula) is the largest galaxy in the Local Group.
Contains approximately 1 trillion stars, which is 2.5 to 5 times the size of the Milky Way. It is located in the constellation Andromeda and is distant from Earth at a distance of 2.52 million light years.

Galaxy M31 – Andromeda Nebula

It is the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. Its diameter is 260 thousand light years. For comparison, our Milky Way has a diameter of 100 thousand light. years. Andromeda is one and a half times larger in mass than our galaxy. At its center there is most likely a supermassive black hole (SMB) with a mass of approximately 140 million times the mass of our Sun.

In the Messier catalog, the Andromeda Galaxy is designated M31. In the most famous catalog of deep space objects in amateur astronomy, it is presented as NGC 224.

This is almost the only galaxy that can be seen with the naked eye in the sky. For an observer from Earth, the area occupied on the celestial sphere is seven times larger than the disk of the Moon, but only the core of the galaxy is clearly visible.

Thanks to Hubble telescope, a cluster of young blue stars has been discovered that orbit a central black hole like planets. There are about 400 of them, their age is about 200 million years. These several hundred young stars are collected in a disk with a diameter of only 1 light year. The radial velocities of the stars of the disk due to the gravitational influence of the BH turned out to be record high - approximately 1000 km/s (3.6 million kilometers per hour). At this speed you can fly around in 40 seconds Earth or get from the Earth to the Moon in six minutes.

It is not yet clear to scientists how stars could form at such a small distance from a supermassive black hole, since according to calculations, its tidal forces in this region should be so great that they should not allow interstellar gas to condense and form stars. Further observations may provide clues to this anomaly.

At a distance of 130 thousand light years from the center of Andromeda, G1 is the brightest globular cluster in the Local Group of galaxies. Its other name is Mayall II. It contains about 300 thousand old stars. Several features indicate that this globular cluster could well be the core of an ancient dwarf galaxy that was once absorbed by M31. According to research, at the center of G1 there is a black hole with a mass of 20,000 Suns. In total, about 460 globular clusters have been discovered in the Andromeda Galaxy.

The first exoplanet (extrasolar planet) outside the Milky Way was discovered in M31, orbiting the star PA-99-N2. By the way, in our Milky Way galaxy, the total number of exoplanets is estimated at at least 100 billion, of which ~5 to 20 billion may be “Earth-like.”

The Andromeda Galaxy, like our Milky Way, is surrounded by several dwarf galaxies - small star systems consisting of several billion stars. The largest and most famous of them are the compact elliptical galaxies M32 and M110, visible in any photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy. Calculations show that M32 may have been spiral in the recent past, but the process that supported the formation of its spiral arms was suppressed by the powerful tidal forces of the Andromeda Galaxy. M110 is also involved in gravitational interaction with the Andromeda Galaxy: astronomers discovered a gigantic stream of stars rich heavy metals, on the periphery of M31 - in its halo. Similar stars also inhabit dwarf M110, which indicates their migration from one galaxy to another.

Under the influence of gravity, the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way are gradually moving closer together. By known estimates, during the existence of our Universe, the distance between them has decreased by about 2.5 million light years. But about this rapprochement in the next article... .

Based on Wikipedia materials

The most distant object in space visible to the naked eye. The closest galactic object to us. A huge galaxy that will collide with Milky Way and will swallow him up. All these laurels are borne by the Andromeda galaxy M31 - the first discovered external galaxy in the world, and the most well studied.

The Andromeda spiral galaxy, formerly known as the Andromeda nebula or M31 (number 31 according to famous catalog Messier) is the most famous of the “star islands”. In addition to the general attention characteristic of the next “nearest-big-coolest” space object, M31 also stands out for its scientific value. After all, there are few galaxies in which you can see millions of individual stars, even through . And there are even fewer that approach us at a speed of about 110 km/s, as Andromeda does.

In addition, for the time being, the image of our home, the Milky Way, was “drawn” from Andromeda. Our galaxy, although smaller in scope, is not much lighter, and M31 was perceived as a “mirror” of the Milky Way. With the development of astronomy, when scientists began to see and understand more, the myth dissipated. It turned out that Andromeda belongs to different subclasses of spiral galaxies, and the pattern of their arms is quite different. But they still have a lot in common - for example, a “passion” for absorbing their dwarf satellite galaxies. Their internal structure is also similar.

But first things first. In order to better imagine the image of Andromeda’s neighbor, let’s consider its main details - and in order not to get lost, let’s compare them with the parameters of our own galaxy.

Galaxy class

The Andromeda Galaxy is a typical Sb class galaxy according to the Hubble classification. This means that it looks like a spiral, with arm lines evenly distributed around a spherical bulge - the central bright part of the galaxy full of bright old stars. The Milky Way today is perceived as an SBbc class galaxy - a barred spiral galaxy. The difference between our “stellar island” and M31 lies precisely in the jumper - this part extends from the edges of the bulge and connects it to the arms.

You can see for yourself what scientists see. The image below consists of about 600 million pixels, and is the largest and most detailed image of M31 that spans the entire galaxy. The image resolution is 48327x12185px, and the size is 717.2 Mb. Best watched in full screen mode!

What is true, there is evidence that Andromeda may also have a jumper. Evidence was provided by the infrared space exploration program 2MASS (from the English “2 Micron All-Sky Survey”, “study of the entire sky in the [light] range of 2 microns”). She showed that the bulge of the Andromeda galaxy, hidden by clouds from all but infrared radiation, has a square shape, which is quite enough to be considered an SB galaxy.

But even without taking into account the bridge, the Andromeda nebula differs from the Milky Way. The arms of its spiral are further apart than those of our galaxy. And although their lines rarely have a perfectly even shape, in the MZ1 galaxies some arms are highly distorted. These are “holes” from a smaller galaxy that flew through the disk of Andromeda. Such events are not uncommon for our neighbor - 10 billion years ago it was formed from several protogalaxies, and during its existence it absorbed at least three of its satellites.

M31 "Andromeda Nebula".
11/28/2010, Deepsky 80\560ED telescope, WO 0.8x II gear-corrector, Canon 1000D, ISO 1600, shutter speed 1 minute, 10-15 frames. Mount - EQ5

How to find the famous Andromeda Nebula (M31)? Best time The best time to observe it is in autumn, but you can also try to find it at other times of the year (for example, in the morning in summer). To search, you must first stand facing the northern part of the sky, find the constellation Ursa Major, draw a line from the handle of the “bucket” through North Star, and on the continuation of this imaginary line you will see an inverted letter M or W - this is the constellation Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia is a fairly bright constellation, so you can easily find it.


Then we turn to the right, to the southeastern side of the sky - we see that under Cassiopeia there are two large constellations- Andromeda and Pegasus. Feature- the so-called “Pegasus Square” - four stars forming a kind of “square”.


We will orient ourselves from it - draw an imaginary line along the stars, first to the left and then up. If you did everything correctly and look at the desired location through binoculars, a telescope or a good optical finder, you will see a small light oval cloud. Congratulations, this is the Andromeda Nebula - a huge galaxy with which our Galaxy is approaching (the collision will occur in 3-4 billion years).




In small telescopes it is visible in the same way as in binoculars/spotting scopes, but larger - a large oval spot. Several of its satellites, small galaxies (M32 and M110), also become noticeable. With 20x60 binoculars, it is visible throughout the entire field of view. The visual size of the Andromeda Nebula is about 3...3.5 degrees - 7 times the apparent size of the Moon! In telescopes of larger diameters (from 250 mm or more), dust paths near the center of the galaxy become accessible for observation.
The main key to success in observations is a dark sky and the absence of flare.

In the photographs, the Andromeda Nebula looks much more beautiful than visually, primarily due to the visibility of dust clouds along the center of the galaxy. The simplest images of the galaxy can be obtained with even the simplest motorized equatorial mount and SLR camera with a kit lens.

« Andromeda Galaxy is the closest large galaxy in relation to our “home” - the Milky Way. Distance to Andromeda galaxy from Earth - approximately 2 million light years. Andromeda Galaxy, like our Milky Way, it is one of the spiral galaxies. Andromeda Galaxy- practically the only galaxy visible in the sky with the naked eye, due to its size and brightness. Andromedans- highly developed alien race from our neighbor Andromeda galaxy. Flying to Earth Andromedans using technologies that people do not yet possess.”

A light year is the distance that light travels through space during a year at a speed of 186,000 miles per second.

Galaxies are made up of dust, stars, planets and gas that are held together by gravity. Galaxies rotate very slowly. Astronomers believe that all or most of them have a very dense black hole at their center. Scientists know that such black holes exist. Andromeda and our galaxy.

Despite the fact that from us to Nebulae Andromeda about 2 million light years away, we can still see it with the naked eye as it exits the northern hemisphere. There are hundreds of billions of stars in this galaxy, but it looks like a blurry white area.

The first written mention of the Andromeda Galaxy dates back to 946 and is contained in the “Catalog of Fixed Stars” by the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi, who described it as a “small cloud”.

The Andromeda nebula has a diameter of 220,000 light years, while the Milky Way is approximately 150,000. Astronomers believe that our neighbor is about twice as massive as the Milky Way.

Galaxies not only rotate, but also move in space. Most galaxies move away from each other, however, sometimes they move towards each other. Sometimes they are so close that they collide.

What happens when two galaxies collide?

Sometimes they pass through one another, and this is almost imperceptible, but this only happens when the galaxies are fast moving. If two slow-moving galaxies collide, they merge and form one huge galaxy.

On this moment and our Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy we move towards each other. The two galaxies are expected to collide in a few billion years (estimated to be 4 billion). Andromeda Galaxy moves much slower than the speed of light and will, by our relative standards, take a very long time before it reaches the Milky Way. As a result of the collision, two galaxies will merge into one very large galaxy (for example, Milky Medus), and the merger process will take more than a million years.

What does this mean for the Earth?

First of all, we note that astronomers are not sure that this collision will occur. But if you do, there will definitely be radical changes. Although it is quite possible that Andromeda galaxy will pass by the Milky Way. Scientists also express the opinion that Andromeda galaxy may have already merged with another galaxy in the past.

ANDROMEDIANS

In the Andromeda Galaxy The war has been going on for a long time. This war killed more than quadrillions of inhabitants and set the skies ablaze with how ferocious it was. Gigantic, ancient empires and extraterrestrial civilizations fought by blowing up stars and star clusters, destroying parts of the galaxy and rebuilding them in an instant. Some proxy wars were fought in the Ancient Milky Way, before humanity appeared on Earth, before dinosaurs walked the earth. When the dust settled, the ancient empires came to an agreement and, ultimately, an alliance. The warlike Galaxy evolved into a powerful military and, ultimately, political Union that has maintained galactic "peace" for centuries. This union is known as Andromeda Federation.

Then she arrived human race, to assume that the human race exists only on planet Earth is very stupid, since the human race is very ancient, we are one of the colonies, our development is carefully monitored and does not interfere, only protecting us from space invaders.

So, the United Republic of people, on their own spaceships, entered a massive galaxy in the multi-quintillion. They immediately began colonizing planets, terraforming uninhabited worlds and turning them into heavenly climates for their species.

Andromeda Federation made a practical agreement with the people that no one extraterrestrial civilization will not attack each other. This also includes trade, although with how developed both extraterrestrial civilizations, they can only trade things like entertainment and science, not goods or resources. Although tensions between the Federation and the Human Republic are high, the alliance between them remains.

Despite this, however, the borders between them are open, and tourists from both sides are allowed to visit both civilizations, within reason.

Like other “heavenly mentors” of earthlings, andromedans arrived on our planet, as a rule, in turning points stories. This race practically does not manifest itself in any way; they try to help humanity unnoticed.

According to some sources last group Andromedans arrived on Earth in the 1940-50s to prevent the development of nuclear weapons on our planet. It is believed that the Andromedans prevented the beginning nuclear war on Earth seven times.

Andromedans were only observers until the 40s. twentieth century, but then they came into contact with the governments of certain countries. However, previously aliens left some esoteric knowledge that a number of people possessed secret societies of our planet. The most famous message from representatives of this race is the book “ Urantia».

There are reportedly five different DNA configurations Andromedans, arrived on Earth, and some of the aliens are not exactly friendly.

These aliens have a physical body resembling a human. There is a version that man called representatives of this particular race angels when he met them many centuries ago.

Andromedans They come into contact with people quite often. We know that they, like us, are divided into two sexes. But about how these creatures reproduce, what they feed their bodies with, etc. We don't know anything at all.

IN Old Testament and other ancient religious sources say that andromedans Both sexes had sexual intercourse with people in ancient times.

For earthlings andromedans are the most interesting race aliens, because it is she who influences us the most, and once shared her genes. For this reason andromedans care for humanity as if it were their offspring.

Types of humanoids

Among types of humanoids There are only two species.

Known to us andromedans according to anthropological characteristics they are divided into two humanoid type: White From the “Nordic” type (light-skinned, blue-eyed blondes) to “Mediterranean” (light – Brown hair and eyes; bronze-colored leather). Eastern type dark-haired, with Asian eyes, pale to dark brown skin.

Sami andromedans call themselves creatures " LI-A» – “Life” (LI) and “aspiration” (A). Thus, the self-name of this race can be translated as “life-oriented.”