How big is the Andromeda Galaxy? is it bigger than our own?

Question

i know that it is the closest galaxy to our own milky way... but is it bigger? smaller?

Answer 1

The bright disk you see that is visible to your eyes is roughly 141,000 light-years compared to ours that is only roughly 130,000 light-years. The bright disk claims more than 90% of the total visible light of M31. If you are to consider the other 10%, M31 will be a lot larger to about 220,000 light-years. This is based on metal poor dwarfs and subdwarfs that populate the outer portions of the disk. However, there is more. Lately it was found that the outskirts of M31 is still sparsely populated with stars - red giants. If this is to be considered, Andromeda Galaxy would be about 500,000 light-years in diameter. Do you know why? SEDS has a great explanation. It swallowed another galaxy roughly at the time our own Solar System was forming. The galaxy was once part of the Maffei group of galaxies. The Maffei group may have once formed a group with M31 and its minions. The Maffei has two massive galaxies with them is another medium-sized galaxy that M31 may have merged with. The collision caused M31 to expand and may have been the reason why it has more stars than our own. The merger brough intense star formation that M31 now has close to a trillion stars compared to our 200-400 billion. The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds are runaway galaxies that received the kick of the merger and is heading in a direction close to Milky Way. Anyway, Milky Way is still more massive with 1.9 trillion solar masses compared to Andromeda Galaxy's 1.23 trillion.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy

http://seds.org/MESSIER/m/m031.html

http://seds.org/messier/more/local.html



Clear skies!

Answer 2

Currently, the Andromeda Galaxy is brighter, has more stars, and is more dense with stars. However, the Milky Way Galaxy is believed to be a bit heavier in over-all mass.



Also, the Milky Way currently has a much, much more active star formation rate than Andromeda. This suggests that Andromeda is a bit older because it shows that it has already gone through a period of increased star formation. This suggests that over time, the Milky Way will increase and probably surpass Andromeda in total stars and brightness.

Answer 3

Andromeda has a bright disk that is now believed to span as much as 228,000 lightyears in width. In 2005, astronomers announced that Andromeda's disk actually extends far further out, so that the disk spans at least 260,000 light-years. The outer disk emits nearly 10 percent of the galaxy's total light and may be comprised of metal-poor stars stripped from smaller galaxies that strayed too close. On January 7, 2007, a team of astronomers announced the discovery of low-metallicity, red giant stars up to some 500,000 light-years from Andromeda's core which suggests that the galaxy is much larger than originally thought, so that Andromeda's luminous halo may actually overlap with that of the Milky Way.

Though the Andromeda Galaxy is considerably larger than our own, the two share many common features. Both have a clearly recognisable spiral structure, and both have various attendant dwarf galaxies associated with them.

Answer 4

If i'm not mistaken, I think it is widely believed, that the Andromeda Galaxy is physically larger than ours, as well as all the surrounding galaxies, however, many scientist believe our own contains more dark matter, making it's total mass much greater than Andromeda's own.

Answer 5

How Big Is Andromeda

Answer 6

> So why purely directly to us ? its like so a procedures away... is it magnet or some thing ? no longer magnetism: gravity. trouble-free gravitational charm. > Is planet earth and the all human beings is arranged or are we dont care and purely enable the (existence) be non exsist and distroy effect ? we are speaking approximately an journey 3 million years interior the destiny. I doubt something very like modern-day humanity will nonetheless exist at that distant ingredient. after all, 3 million years, our organic and organic ancestors, the early hominids, incredibly existed, and hadn't began evolving in the direction of cutting-area guy. Who is primary with what we would have developed into 3 million years for this reason. Secondly, isn't something predicted to take place to existence on earth as a effect of this "effect." the celebrities in galaxies are few and lots between, and galaxies in collision purely bypass by way of one yet another devoid of any effect on the factor stars. Our Milky way galaxy is presently in collision with 2 smaller galaxies; have you ever observed?

Answer 7

The size of our galaxy is estimated to be 100,000 light-years across and 2500 light-years thick.

The Andromeda Galaxy is twice as big as our galaxy

Answer 8

ITS LIKE OUT OF THIS WORLD