NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has revealed new details about the Andromeda Galaxy, our Milky Way’s closest large neighbor. Hubble has completed its most detailed study of Andromeda yet, showing its evolution over time.
Andromeda differs from the Milky Way due to its more active star formation and evidence of past galactic collisions. Unlike our galaxy, which we study from the inside, Hubble’s clear view of Andromeda is helping astronomers understand how galaxies like ours evolve.
The study, which took more than a decade to complete, spanned both the northern and southern halves of the galaxy, imaging more than 200 million stars. Researchers have found that star formation in Andromeda has slowed, possibly due to past “interactions” with smaller galaxies.
These results will complement future observations from NASA’s James Webb and Roman space telescopes.