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Hubble maps 500 million years of Andromeda's star birth
The Hindu··28 Jul
Astronomers used Hubble Space Telescope data to map star formation across most of the Andromeda Galaxy over the last 500 million years, finding the rate has declined, especially in the last 40 million years. Recent star birth was concentrated in the galaxy's ring structures, where the slowdown is sharpest. The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal on July 27.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Stargazers can better appreciate why Andromeda looks the way it does through binoculars from dark sky areas.
- The findings help astronomers refine tools used to judge the age and health of other distant galaxies.
- Anyone curious about the Milky Way's future gets a preview, since Andromeda will collide with it in about 5 billion years.
What's Happening
- Astronomers used Hubble data to map star formation across most of Andromeda over the last 500 million years.
- The star formation rate has declined steadily, especially over the last 40 million years, most sharply in its ring structures.
- A near total halt in star birth was found close to satellite galaxy M32, suggesting a recent disruptive pass through Andromeda's disc.
Two Hubble Surveys, 200 Million Stars, One Story
- Researchers combined the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury and its southern counterpart to cover two thirds of the galaxy's disk.
- Andromeda's star formation rate has dropped from about one solar mass per year to roughly one-fifth of that today.
- The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal on July 27, following a similar 2015 mapping of the galaxy's northern half.
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