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The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It was originally named the Andromeda Nebula and is cataloged as Messier 31 , M31 , and NGC 224 . Andromeda has a D 25 isophotal diameter of about 46.56 kiloparsecs (152,000 light-years ) [ 8 ] and is approximately 765 kpc (2.5 million light-years ...
Absolute magnitude is defined as the apparent magnitude that a star or object would have if it were observed from a distance of 10 parsecs (33 light-years; 3.1 × 10 14 kilometres; 1.9 × 10 14 miles). Therefore, it is of greater use in stellar astrophysics since it refers to a property of a star regardless of how close it is to Earth.
The Andromeda Galaxy is approaching the Milky Way at about 110 kilometres per second (68.4 mi/s) [2] [8] as indicated by blueshift. However, the lateral speed (measured as proper motion ) is very difficult to measure with sufficient precision to draw reasonable conclusions.
Examination of this halo, which supplies material for the formation of stars, can reveal information about the birth and deaths of stars within the Andromeda Galaxy. Hubble reveals Andromeda has ...
X-rays start at ~0.008 nm and extend across the electromagnetic spectrum to ~8 nm, over which Earth's atmosphere is opaque. Astrophysical X-ray sources are astronomical objects with physical properties which result in the emission of X-rays . Several types of astrophysical objects emit X-rays. They include galaxy clusters, black holes in active ...
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) has satellite galaxies just like the Milky Way. Orbiting M31 are at least 13 dwarf galaxies: the brightest and largest is M110, which can be seen with a basic telescope. The second-brightest and closest one to M31 is M32. The other galaxies are fainter, and were mostly discovered starting from the 1970s.
The cosmic distance ladder (also known as the extragalactic distance scale) is the succession of methods by which astronomers determine the distances to celestial objects. A direct distance measurement of an astronomical object is possible only for those objects that are "close enough" (within about a thousand parsecs) to Earth.
The Andromeda Galaxy and its satellite galaxy, Messier 110, to the bottom-right of the center. About half of the Andromeda's satellite galaxies are orbiting it along a highly flattened plane, with 14 out of 16 following the same sense of rotation. One theory proposes that these 16 once belonged to a subhalo surrounding M110, then the group was ...