Astronomy. Spiral Galaxy Andromeda: scientific facts and speculation

Astronomy is an amazingly fascinating science that reveals to inquisitive minds all the diversity of the Universe. There are hardly people who, as a child, would never watch the scattering of stars in the night sky. This picture looks especially beautiful in summer period, when the stars seem so close and incredibly bright. IN recent years Astronomers around the world are particularly interested in Andromeda, the galaxy closest to our home Milky Way. We decided to find out what exactly attracts scientists about it and whether it can be seen with the naked eye.

Andromeda: brief description

The Andromeda Galaxy, or simply Andromeda, is one of the largest. It is approximately three to four times larger than our Milky Way, where the solar system is located. It contains, according to preliminary estimates, about one trillion stars.

Andromeda is a spiral galaxy; it can be seen in the night sky even without special optical devices. But keep in mind that the light from this star cluster takes more than two and a half million years to reach our Earth! Astronomers say we now see the Andromeda Nebula as it was two million years ago. Isn't this a miracle?

The Andromeda Nebula: from the history of observations

Andromeda was first spotted by an astronomer from Persia. He cataloged it in 1946 and described it as a hazy glow. Seven centuries later, the galaxy was described by a German astronomer who observed it over time using a telescope.

In the mid-nineteenth century, astronomers determined that Andromeda's spectrum was significantly different from previously known galaxies, and suggested that it consisted of many stars. This theory was completely justified.

The Andromeda Galaxy, photographed only at the end of the nineteenth century, has a spiral structure. Although at that time it was considered just a large part of the Milky Way.

Structure of the galaxy

With the help of modern telescopes, astronomers were able to analyze the structure of the Andromeda Nebula. The Hubble telescope made it possible to see about four hundred young stars orbiting a black hole. This star cluster is approximately two hundred million years old. This structure of the galaxy quite surprised scientists, because until now they had not even imagined that stars could form around a black hole. According to all previously known laws, the process of condensation of gas before the formation of a star is simply impossible under the conditions of a black hole.

The Andromeda nebula has several satellite dwarf galaxies; they are located on its outskirts and could end up there as a result of absorption. This is doubly interesting due to the fact that astronomers are predicting a collision between the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. True, this phenomenal event will not happen soon.

The Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way: moving towards each other

Scientists have been making certain predictions for quite some time, observing the movement of both stellar systems. The fact is that Andromeda is a galaxy that is constantly moving towards the Sun. At the beginning of the twentieth century, an American astronomer was able to calculate the speed at which this movement occurs. This figure, three hundred kilometers per second, is still used by all astronomers around the world in their observations and calculations.

However, their calculations differ significantly. Some scientists claim that the galaxies will collide only in seven billion years, but others are confident that the speed of Andromeda’s movement is constantly increasing, and a meeting can be expected in four billion years. Scientists do not exclude a scenario in which, in a few decades, this predicted figure will once again decrease significantly. At the moment, it is still generally accepted that a collision should not be expected earlier than in four billion years. What does Andromeda (galaxy) threaten us with?

Collision: what will happen?

Since the absorption of the Milky Way by Andromeda is inevitable, astronomers are trying to simulate the situation in order to have at least some information about this process. According to computer data, as a result of absorption, the Solar system will be on the outskirts of the galaxy, it will fly over a distance of one hundred and sixty thousand light years. Compared to the current position of our solar system towards the center of the galaxy, it will move away from it by twenty-six thousand light years.

The new future galaxy has already received the name Milkyhoney, and astronomers claim that due to the merger it will be younger by at least one and a half billion years. In this process, new stars will form, which will make our galaxy much brighter and more beautiful. She will also change shape. Now the Andromeda Nebula is at a certain angle to the Milky Way, but during the merger process the resulting system will take on the shape of an ellipse and become more voluminous, so to speak.

The fate of humanity: will we survive the impact?

What will happen to people? How will the meeting of galaxies affect our Earth? Surprisingly, scientists say that there is absolutely no way!!! All changes will be expressed in the appearance of new stars and constellations. The map of the sky will completely change, because we will find ourselves in a completely new and unexplored corner of the galaxy.

Of course, some astronomers leave an extremely insignificant percentage of negative developments. In this scenario, the Earth could collide with the Sun or another stellar body from the Andromeda galaxy.

Are there planets in the Andromeda Nebula?

Scientists regularly search for planets in galaxies. They do not give up attempts to discover in the vastness of the Milky Way a planet similar in characteristics to our Earth. At the moment, more than three hundred objects have already been discovered and described, but all of them are located in our star system. In recent years, astronomers have begun to take an increasingly closer look at Andromeda. Are there any planets there at all?

Thirteen years ago, a group of astronomers using the latest method hypothesized that there is a planet near one of the stars in the Andromeda Nebula. Its estimated mass is six percent of itself major planet our solar system - Jupiter. Its mass is three hundred times the mass of the Earth.

At the moment, this assumption is at the testing stage, but has every chance of becoming a sensation. After all, until now astronomers have not discovered planets in other galaxies.

Preparing to search for a galaxy in the sky

As we have already said, even with the naked eye you can see a neighboring galaxy in the night sky. Of course, for this you need to have some knowledge of astronomy (at least know what the constellations look like and be able to find them).

In addition, it is almost impossible to see certain clusters of stars in the night sky of the city - light pollution will prevent observers from seeing at least anything. Therefore, if you still want to see the Andromeda Nebula with your own eyes, then go to a village at the end of summer, or at least to a city park where there are no large quantity lanterns The best time for observation is October, but from August to September it is quite clearly visible above the horizon.

Andromeda Nebula: search scheme

Many young amateur astronomers dream of finding out what Andromeda really looks like. The galaxy in the sky resembles a small bright spot, but you can find it thanks to bright stars which are located nearby.

The easiest way is to find Cassiopeia in the autumn sky - it looks like the letter W, only more elongated than it is usually denoted in writing. Usually the constellation is clearly visible in the Northern Hemisphere and is located in the eastern part of the sky. The Andromeda Galaxy lies below. To see it, you need to find a few more landmarks.

They are three bright stars below Cassiopeia, they are elongated in a line and have a red-orange hue. The middle one, Mirak, is the most accurate reference point for novice astronomers. If you draw a straight line upward from it, you will notice a small luminous spot that resembles a cloud. It is this light that will be the Andromeda galaxy. Moreover, the glow that you can observe was sent to Earth even when there was not a single person on the planet. Amazing fact, isn't it?

Wide-angle map of the constellation Andromeda

M31 Photographer Rick Krejci

The daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus Andromeda was supposed to become a victim of Poseidon and, chained to a cliff, awaited her fate. Perseus, returning after defeating the Gorgon, found her, freed her and took her as his wife. Andromeda is the 19th largest constellation in the night sky. Together with her mother, father, husband and his winged horse (Pegasus), she takes part in the seasonal procession around the pole.

In my opinion, she doesn't look like a princess at all. I always saw Andromeda as a cornucopia, appearing just in time for the harvest. But whatever you imagine Andromeda to be, it's home to plenty of spectacular deep-sky objects.

At the mention of Andromeda, the imagination of almost every amateur astronomer immediately brings to mind the image of the majestic Andromeda galaxy and its satellites. Even without it there is a lot of interesting things here, but this is undoubtedly one of the brightest heavenly pearls of all time. M31 – a huge galaxy in Andromeda – and its closest satellites

The Andromeda Galaxy (also known as M31) became famous for several reasons, but most probably because it was one of the cornerstones in resolving the Great Debate (are there many galaxies in the Universe or just ours?), and in determining interstellar distances using Cepheid variable stars. At the turn of the last century, astronomers wondered whether spiral galaxies like M31 were located in or outside the Milky Way. In 1923, working at the Mount Wilson Observatory with a 100-inch telescope, Edwin Hubble photographed the stars in the halo of M31, discovered Cepheids among them and estimated the distance to the galaxy to be 900,000 light years - much further than what was believed at that time borders of our galaxy. In 1944, German-born astronomer Walter Baade, classified as an enemy alien and barred from participating in defense projects, became stranded on Mount Wilson. Due to the Los Angeles war blackouts, Baade was able to take advantage of the blackest Wilson skies and may even have been able to see the breakup into individual stars throughout M31. These astronomers studied M31 with the most powerful telescopes of the time, but in all but very bright conditions it is visible to the naked eye. Andromeda - 31st in the Messier catalog, according to the most accurate data, covers approximately 5 degrees, is amazingly far from us (from 2.2 to 2.9 million light years) along with its retinue - M32 and M110. A little further, in Cassiopeia, you can find two brighter satellites of the Andromeda galaxy - NGC 185 and NGC 147. It's fun to experiment with different optics on Andromeda. It's so large that it makes an excellent binocular object, but I prefer the view in a 4" telescope - it makes the brighter areas look quite nice, plus M32 and M110 are visible. To find M32, look for the brighter dense haze near M31, well, M110 in a small telescope looks much more like a ghostly cigarette smoke. My 8" reflector on a good night easily pulls out one of the dark stripes that are visible in the photographs, and a larger telescope will show both dust lanes in M31. We're not done with the Andromeda galaxy. We'll be back to visit its brightest globular cluster (as this month's feature), but for now we'll move on. Gamma, NGC 752, Beta and Ghost
Andromeda Gamma First, start at the top of the horn - check the Wide View Finder Map to find Andromeda Gamma. This is a nice bright binary that is easy to spot in a small telescope. Even if you were able to separate it at low magnification, be sure to try going to a higher magnification. high magnification. I have found that often when changing magnification the colors of the stars change slightly. Gamma illustrates this effect well. At low magnification, I saw an orange tint to both stars, but when I raised the magnification on my 4" refractor to 70, I discovered that the brighter one remained orange, but the dim one had a whitish tint. What do you see? NGC 752 Take your widest eyepiece and scan the sky east of Gamma. Look for a large open star cluster - NGC 752. Because of its large size, it is best viewed through binoculars or a wide-field telescope. In my 4" telescope best view turns out at 36x - I counted several dozen stars. Searchtwo bright golden stars located near this cluster. The size and color of such stars often reminds me of eyes peering at me from the darkness of the night. Beta Andromeda (Mirah) and Ghost of Mirakh (NGC 404)

Now move towards the base of Andromeda again until you reach Beta. Take a moment and look closely at Beta - you'll notice what looks like a glare on the eyepiece lens. If you weren't specifically looking for it, you might have missed it altogether. This is the galaxy known as Mirach's Ghost - NGC 404. More advanced observers might say that separating NGC 404 from the bright light of Beta is almost impossible - and, unfortunately, they are somewhat right. And yet, fortunately for us, it is not so difficult to see it in a telescope of any size. To be successful in detecting a galaxy, you just need to recognize what would otherwise be dismissed as a glint or an optical illusion. Blue Snowball (NGC 7662)

It's a little more difficult to jump to it. The starting point is three bright stars, in the map above they are lined up almost from north to south. In medium-dark areas they are visible to the naked eye. If you can see them, you will successfully reach Snowball. If not, you will have to consult the overview map, which is more detailed than the map above. 7662, i.e. Blue Snowball is DEFINITELY worth the effort. I noted that at 37x in a 4" refractor, it doesn't look like a star and produces an amazing blue tint in both the 8" and 4" telescopes. It's a planetary nebula. Remember how they can handle high magnification? - so now's the time to take advantage of it Plus, you can get a UHC or OIII filter to enhance the contrast and see how the image changes - with a small telescope, you shouldn't expect much in this case, but it's a good habit anyway.
NGC 891 – The Outer Limits Galaxy)

891 can be seen in a four-inch telescope, but to appreciate it you will need an 8" telescope or larger. One of the first TV stars (after all, the TV series “The Outer Limits” is named after her) looks truly beautiful in a large telescope. exciting. My 8" telescope usually shows it as a graceful spindle, with a barely noticeable dust lane (at the most good conditions observations). In a telescope of about 15"–20" it already looks like the picture on the left. The galaxy is edge-on to us, making it one of the few galaxies that responds well to the Collins I3, an image-intensifying eyepiece. If you look at it in such a device, it looks simply gorgeous. G1/ Mayall II (Mayall II) It's not too hard to see this thing - provided you have enough aperture - but you have to be really cool to find it.

Fundamentally, this is an exciting goal. Visually, it falls a little short of impressive. On at the moment We've looked at several globular clusters in our own galaxy, now it's time to look at the brightest globular cluster in the local group. What's the catch? It is not located in our galaxy. It is located in Andromeda. The photo on the right was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The cluster is called G1 or Mayall II, and it orbits the Andromeda galaxy at a distance of 130 thousand light years from its center. What's really surprising is that G1 can actually be seen with a moderately sized amateur telescope. And not just as a point source. It's a long way from breaking up into individual stars, of course, but despite this you can clearly see that there is something there - especially when compared to the two stars in the foreground, to the side of the cluster. At magnitude 13.7 the target is quite faint, so the larger aperture you use, the better chance you have of spotting the globular. The task is undoubtedly feasible for a 10" telescope under decent observing conditions. It is more than plausible to detect a spherical ball with an 8" telescope in a very dark area. I even heard rumors about people who managed to catch it in a 6" telescope. I always start the star trail from M32 and work straight down to a very recognizable asterism (pictured on the left). Then I make my way to G1. Once I know I'm in the right area, I crank up the magnification and start looking at the multiple stars in that area. G1 is located almost halfway between two stars of approximately the same size, and this helps a lot when it comes to fishing for the ballfish. This search map may help you. I flipped the map image to make it easier to navigate the stars in the eyepiece.

Notice the circled group of stars on the map above - in a medium-sized telescope this group looks very similar to Cassiopeia. Once you're in the right place, look for three stars in the area marked G1. At high magnification, they resemble Mickey Mouse: the two stars on the side are ears, and Mickey's head is G1. The DSS photo (right) should remind you of what you'll see. Be sure to pump up the magnification, and you'll find that it's not exactly a high point. Visually it’s not very exciting, but once you think about what exactly you’re looking at, it’s simply mind-blowing. I caught it in my 10" telescope, saw a volume of 15", but I got the best view of this object when I watched with Gary Gibbs in his 20" telescope with an image intensifier - a Collins I3 eyepiece. Here it is already obvious that this is not a star – you can actually see a star-like core with a fainter halo. Overall, the cluster reminded me of tiny dim globules. milky way, which I caught with a small telescope. If you manage to capture it, you can be sure that you have very good search skills, because... you managed to see a goal that very few have achieved. If you liked this article, check out my other posts in the "

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 face the northern part of the sky and find the constellation Ursa Major, draw a line from the handle of the “bucket” through the 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 - pretty bright constellation, so you can find it easily.

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 and 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. Basic images of the galaxy can be obtained with even the simplest motorized equatorial mount and a DSLR camera with a kit lens.

Lovers to watch starry sky and people who are serious about astronomy know that it is possible to see stunning celestial objects. The Andromeda Galaxy is one such unique phenomenon. In fact, the nebula can be seen with the naked eye, its size is about seven times the size of the Moon, but a person can only notice its core - the brightest part. To view the galaxy, it is enough to use powerful binoculars, but using a telescope, you can see other details that create a more complete picture.

How to make observations correctly

When setting yourself the task of examining the galaxy as clearly and in detail as possible, you must follow several simple recommendations. First of all, for observations it is worth choosing a cloudless day, when the evening sky remains absolutely clear. It is also worth choosing a place that does not have strong city lighting. Many novice astronomers are unable to see many stars and space objects due to the bright city lights that illuminate the sky in the evening. The wine galaxy closest to the Milky Way with the naked eye.

To understand how to find Andromeda, it is enough to know its location. Accurate data can be found in special programs that simulate the starry sky or on astronomical maps. The galaxy is located in the constellation Andromeda. To begin with, experts recommend finding the Great Square of Pegasus on the southern side of the night sky. The northeastern corner of the Square will be marked by the bright star Alferats, from which three star chains will depart, which will become part of the desired galaxy. The best time to observe Andromeda is in the fall; already in mid-September the galaxy is clearly visible throughout Russia. Main - proper preparation and finding binoculars, a telescope, and a quiet place where there are no bright lights or building lights that distort the visibility of the sky. The galaxy became one of the most important in the starry sky several thousand years ago, when ancient people could see a beautiful object in the sky. Many myths and stories have been created around the name of the nebula, which are reflected in world literature. Close to the Milky Way, the spiral galaxy is 2.2 million light-years away, contains about 300 billion stars, and measures approximately 220,000 light-years in diameter.

The Andromeda Galaxy, known by several names: the great Andromeda nebula, also known as the Andromeda spiral galaxy, also known as Monsieur 31 (M31) in the astronomical classification of galaxies, has long been a source of inspiration for astronomers, science fiction writers, and, for some time, for computer game developers . After all, just recently a great sci-fi game appeared - Mass Effect Andromeda, just about a hypothetical flight of people of the future to our neighboring Andromeda galaxy. Yes, that's right, Andromeda is a neighboring galaxy to ours Milky Way, and moreover, the closest large galaxy to us. But, nevertheless, despite this, the distance to the Andromeda galaxy from Earth is not so small, it is 2.5 million light years. That is, the glow we see from Andromeda in the night starry sky came out from its source 2.5 million years ago.

History of the discovery of Andromeda

The Andromeda Galaxy has been known to us since ancient times; it was first noticed by the Chaldean priests and also excellent astronomers. ancient world. The ancient Greeks also knew about it, because it was thanks to them that the galaxy got its name. Andromeda, the heroine of ancient Greek myth, was the daughter of the Ethiopian king Kepheus. As punishment for Kefei's boasting, the god of the seas Poseidon (aka) ordered the king to sacrifice his daughter to the sea monster Kraken, otherwise the entire kingdom would have suffered a terrible tragedy. natural disaster. But Princess Andromeda was saved by the brave hero Perseus, who, on his winged horse Pegasus, was able to defeat the terrible Kraken. Subsequently, the bright stars in the night sky were named after the heroes of the favorite myths Perseus and Andromeda, only then it turned out that Andromeda is not just a star, but an entire galaxy, and the Perseus cluster is even something bigger - a real cluster of galaxies.

Mythological Perseus and Andromeda, who gave their names to galaxies.

Over the course of a century, many astronomers noticed and observed Andromeda, and in 964 the Persian astronomer Abdurahman al-Sufi wrote about her, affectionately calling her “Little Cloud.” In 1780, William Herschel observed it through his telescope, believing that it was not so far from us.

The first photograph of the Andromeda system was taken in 1887 by the English astronomer from Wales Issac Roberts, who, however, mistakenly considered it part of our Milky Way galaxy. The understanding that the Andromeda system is a whole separate galaxy with many of its own stars came only at the beginning of the last century. American astronomer Heber Curtis, observing Andromeda in 1917, noticed that the stars of the Andromeda nebula were ten magnitudes fainter than in other places. According to him, they were 500,000 light years away from us. He was the first to put forward the hypothesis of spiral nebulae, or as it was also called the “hypothesis of island universes.” According to this hypothesis, spiral nebulae are separate and full-fledged galaxies.

Experimental confirmation of Curtis's ideas took place in 1923, thanks to another great American astronomer, Edwin Hubble, who built his famous 100-inch telescope. It was Edwin Hubble who was the first to calculate the exact distance to the Andromeda system - 2.5 million light years, and it was he who finally proved that our Universe consists of many galaxies, and not just the Milky Way (as previously believed) and Andromeda is only one of countless numbers galaxies around.

Photo of the Andromeda Galaxy

A few photos of our “neighbor” in the Universe

Andromeda Galaxy and Milky Way

The size of the Andromeda galaxy far exceeds the size of our native galaxy, and we can say for sure that Andromeda is the largest galaxy in our part of the Universe. Andromeda has about one trillion stars, while our Milky Way is much poorer with its three hundred billion stars. Andromeda is also many times larger in extent than our galaxy - it stretches over 260 thousand light years (for comparison, our Milky Way here is only one hundred thousand light years long). Andromeda is ahead of our galaxy in terms of quantity; scientists have already counted more than 30 of the latter.

And the most interesting thing is that the Andromeda galaxy is approaching us, and at a not so low speed of 100-140 km per second. This means that in four and a half billion years there will be a collision between the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, after which both galaxies will merge into one even larger galaxy. But we shouldn’t worry about this, since the Earth, and ours in general, are unlikely to suffer from this collision - the chances of two stars colliding during a galaxy merger are negligible, due to the huge size of these same galaxies. IN worst case scenario our developments solar system will be thrown into intergalactic space by powerful gravitational waves. But she herself will not suffer.

Here the picture clearly shows how the collision of our galaxies will occur.

Planets of the Andromeda Galaxy and the presence of intelligent life

Here we leave the solid ground of scientific facts and enter the slippery ice of speculation and hypotheses. Due to the scale of the Andromeda system, the presence of many stars on it and more more planets, it is quite possible, at least according to the logic of probability theory, that among this set of planets there are planets quite suitable for life. And if so, then life appeared there, and not only animal, but also quite intelligent. Well, for now we can only guess and fantasize a little about what the inhabitants of the Andromeda galaxy look like.

Again in the computer game Mass Effect Andromeda The inhabitants of Andromeda are of the humanoid type, that is, they are similar in appearance to us - they have two arms, two legs, one head, although, of course, intelligent life there may be in a completely different form.

How to Find the Andromeda Galaxy in the Sky

If you are wondering how to see the Andromeda Galaxy in the night sky, and with the naked eye, then it is not so difficult. The best time to view Andromeda is from October to November. To begin with, you should find the constellation Pegasus in the night sky, it is located in the south. Halfway from the horizon to the zenith, you should notice a large square of four stars of almost equal brightness - this is the brightest and most visible part of the constellation Pegasus.

On the left, a chain of stars curved upward adjoins the square, forming together with the square a figure vaguely reminiscent of a ladle with a handle. The pen stars, including the top left star of the square, belong to the Andromeda Galaxy.