Key facts
- Category
- Galaxies
- Object class
- Barred spiral galaxy
- Composition
- ~1 trillion stars, gas, dust, dark matter
- Scale fact
- 152,000 lydiameter
- Estimated age
- ~10 billion years
- Host
- Local Group
Andromeda Galaxy
152,000 lydiameter
Details
Andromeda is the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and one of the two dominant galaxies in the Local Group. It is approaching us, but current Hubble and Gaia data leave only about a 50 percent chance of a collision within the next 10 billion years.
Andromeda is the nearest large spiral galaxy and, with the Milky Way, one of the two dominant members of the Local Group. Its external viewpoint lets astronomers map a barred disk, stellar halo, clusters and satellite galaxies that cannot be seen together from inside our own galaxy.
It is approaching the Milky Way, but the sideways component of its motion remains uncertain. Simulations using current Hubble and Gaia constraints give roughly even odds of a collision within the next 10 billion years, replacing the older picture of an inevitable merger in about four billion years.
Links
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- Andromeda Galaxy on Wikipedia
- Universe journey
- Local Group
Size neighbors
Objects near Andromeda Galaxy on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, Andromeda Galaxy falls between Centaurus A and IC 1101. The band uses nearby Barred spiral galaxy records.
Shared physical scale
116,235ly
Sources
References for Andromeda Galaxy
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Andromeda Galaxy — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (Pablo Carlos Budassi, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Continue with nearby objects or open the full scale.
About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.