SNHS Science Blog 1: Astronomy

Shalini Ballur

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The universe is undoubtedly big. There are about two trillion galaxies in our universe alone. Scientists use a Hubble telescope to view galaxies far away, but we’ve only seen a fraction of them since many more exist farther than the telescope’s ability. The one closest to us is called the Andromeda galaxy, but we are about two and a half million light years away from it. Although it may be far, you can see this galaxy from Earth using binoculars or a telescope. A variety of shapes of a galaxy exist such as spiral, elliptical, and irregular. The Andromeda galaxy has the same shape as the Milky Way, spiral. It is impossible to travel outside of our own galaxy, but scientists have reported a planet that exists there with its mass being six times that of Jupiter’s. They are sure of its existence but not its presence in the galaxy. It was discovered about a decade ago and is called HIP 13044 b. Scientists don’t know much about it, but they are suspecting signs of life. The Milky Way galaxy and Andromeda galaxy are constantly moving with ours moving at a rate of about 370 miles/second. With constant motion, both of these galaxies will collide in 4.5 billion years. When both of these galaxies do collide, an elliptical or a football shaped galaxy will emerge. Something else that will result when they merge together is the clouds of hydrogen that become compressed causing gravitational collapses. This will cause the galaxy to age prematurely since the gas is converted into stars. There's still more to know about the Andromeda galaxy, but we won't be expecting much new information for a while.