The starry skies these days are favorable for us to observe Andromeda, our neighboring galaxy, since it is located “just only” 2.5 million light years from us.National Geographic reports that the best time to see Andromeda is shortly after 6 p.m. and before 7 p.m.
This is because the galaxy “will be almost directly above the world, so its observation will be much easier than at other times.”First: if you don’t know about star observation, you can download one of the free cell phone applications that can help you.
One of them is ‘Star Chart’: a free option that has several functions that will be helpful for newbies. By using the cell phone’s GPS, this app will provide the user with information on 120,000 stars and 88 constellations.
The person will also obtain the name of each star, its characteristics, distance and celestial coordinates.If you do have knowledge about the location of galaxies and do not need an app, then follow these steps to locate Andromeda:
Locate the Pegasus Quadrant
Then, in a top corner of that group look for the star Alpheratz. Head straight east and see Mirach. Finally, go up in the same direction until you find Andromeda
Clash with Andromeda?
Andromeda, also known as M31, is moving towards the Milky Way at a speed of 402,000 kilometers per hour. It is fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in one hour.NASA reported some time ago that our galaxy is on the path of a collision with Andromeda in about 4 billion years.
After years of “extraordinarily precise observations” from NASA’s Hubble telescope, tracking the movement of Andromeda “all doubt is removed that it is destined to collide and merge with the Milky Way,” NASA said in a statement. “It will take millions of years before the impact occurs,” he said.
After the initial impact, it will still take two billion more years for them to completely fuse under the force of gravity.And that it takes the shape of a single elliptical galaxy similar to those commonly seen in the local universe,” NASA added.
The stars within each galaxy are so far away from each other that they are not thought to collide with each other, but it is possible that the stars “will be thrown into a different orbit around the new galactic center.”
