All articles tagged with #andromeda
Using NEOWISE infrared data, astronomers tracked a massive Andromeda star, M31-2014-DS1, that brightened and then vanished over a few years, with optical/near-infrared follow-up supporting a direct collapse into a black hole without a supernova, a rare event that helps calibrate how massive stars end their lives.
Astronomers using archival NEOWISE infrared data have captured the clearest evidence yet that a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy directly collapsed into a black hole, after brightening in infrared for about three years and leaving a dust shell; the event (M31-2014-DS1) from 2014 suggests some massive stars die without a supernova, refining ideas about stellar deaths.
Astronomers tracked a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31-2014-DS1) that brightened in infrared in 2014, then faded and effectively disappeared by 2022–2023, indicating it collapsed into a black hole rather than exploding in a supernova. The remaining dust and gas emit a long-lasting mid-infrared glow as material slowly falls back, a process driven by convection that delays accretion and explains the dimming over decades. This event, linked to a similar case (NGC 6946-BH1), supports a broader class of failed supernovae and improves understanding of how some massive stars end their lives.
A Nature Astronomy study finds that a vast, flat sheet of dark matter surrounding the Milky Way and Andromeda reshapes local gravity, slowing the motion of closer galaxies and accelerating more distant ones, which explains why Andromeda is on a collision course with the Milky Way and underscores dark matter’s key role in the dynamics of our cosmic neighborhood.
A Nature Astronomy study using local-universe simulations finds a vast, flat sheet of dark matter surrounding the Local Group that counteracts the Milky Way–Andromeda attraction. This sheet’s gravity pulls nearby galaxies outward, explaining why Andromeda is approaching us while other nearby galaxies are receding with cosmic expansion, reconciling observations with the standard cosmological model.
A Nature Astronomy study using a virtual twin of the Local Group proposes that the Milky Way and its neighboring galaxies are embedded in a vast, sheet-like distribution of dark matter bordered by cosmic voids. This flat geometry could explain peculiar motions that spherical dark matter halos struggle to account for, with simulations aligning with observed galaxy dynamics.
A Nature Astronomy study suggests the Milky Way and its Local Group reside in a vast, flat sheet of dark matter flanked by cosmic voids. This geometry helps explain the unusual motions of nearby galaxies, including Andromeda’s approach, and offers a new perspective on how dark matter structures shape local cosmology.
A 13-solar-mass yellow supergiant in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31-2014-DS1) brightened in 2014 but faded by 2018 without a canonical supernova. Two studies offer competing explanations: one proposes a failed supernova—a direct collapse into a black hole shrouded in dust that hides X‑ray emissions—leaving a faint red source surrounded by a dust shell. A second team questions this, noting no X‑ray activity and suggesting a stellar merger could produce the observed infrared glow and dust, with the central source possibly reappearing as the dust dissipates. Ongoing JWST observations and further monitoring are needed to confirm whether the star collapsed invisibly, merged, or will brighten again.
An 1888 photograph by Isaac Roberts using a 510 mm reflector captured Andromeda, revealing its spiral structure long before space telescopes—demonstrating that innovative tracking and long exposures with modest gear could unveil galaxy details; the piece compares Roberts’ work to modern Hubble imagery, notes his invention of copper-plate stellar maps, and mentions his telescope is in the Science Museum while encouraging learning astrophotography today.
In 1923, Edwin Hubble discovered a variable star in the Andromeda galaxy, which helped prove that it was a separate galaxy from the Milky Way and enabled the calculation of the universe's vastness and expansion rate, leading to the foundational understanding of an expanding universe and the Hubble constant.
Astrophotographer Ronald Brecher captured a detailed image of the Andromeda galaxy, revealing its spiral arms, dust lanes, and neighboring galaxies, using a high-powered telescope over 38 hours from Canada, highlighting the galaxy's beauty and the vastness of space.
In about four billion years, the Milky Way will merge with the Andromeda galaxy, and while Voyager 1 and 2 will drift in interstellar space long after their power supplies fail, their survival through the collision is uncertain, with risks from stellar encounters, interstellar dust, gravitational deflections, and structural degradation, though they may persist as scattered remnants or debris, symbolizing humanity's first interstellar artifacts.
Microsoft's canceled dual-screen device, originally codenamed Andromeda, was a Windows Phone-based prototype designed as a digital pocket notebook with features like inking, a back camera, and wireless charging, but was scrapped in 2018. New images reveal the hardware and software that showcased Microsoft's early vision for a Windows-based dual-screen device, which ultimately evolved into the Android-powered Surface Duo.
NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope, in collaboration with other space and ground-based observatories, has produced a stunning new multi-wavelength image of the Andromeda galaxy, highlighting its high-energy phenomena and its role in the discovery of dark matter, a breakthrough attributed to astronomer Vera C. Rubin.
Recent research suggests there is only about a 50% chance that the Milky Way will collide with Andromeda within the next 10 billion years, challenging previous assumptions of an inevitable collision, due to uncertainties in measurements and gravitational influences of nearby galaxies.