Will a New Object in Andromeda Predict Milky Way's Fate?

A laser-like spot of light could predict the eventual collision of the Milky Way with the Andromeda Galaxy. Loránt Sjouwerman of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico, and colleagues have glimpsed a bright, laser-like spot of microwave radiation, called a maser, in Andromeda that could help measure its sideways movement. The speed at which Andromeda is moving towards the Milky Way can be determined from the Doppler shift of the light it emits. But the galaxy is too spread out for its subtle sideways motion in the sky to be detected. If it moves sideways fast enough it may miss colliding the Milky Way altogether.

The maser appears when interstellar methanol molecules get heated up by nearby stars.  The newly upgraded Very Large Array of telescopes in New Mexico is tracking the motion of this bright spot. HBut the team must first find other masers in Andromeda, to confirm that the maser motion reflects Andromeda's path overall.

"Measuring the proper motion of Andromeda is key to determining the fate of the Milky Way," says Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Such a measurement is best done with a compact, bright source such as a maser, but until now no maser strong enough for current telescopes to measure has been detected."

The Daily Galaxy via newscientist.com and Astrophysical Journal Letters, DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/724/2/L158

Comments

[Alex]

It's possible, I suppose, but remember that Andromeda isn't just randomly moving this way: it's being pulled by gravity, just like the Milky Way is being pulled towards it by gravity. I'd say that Andromeda's "Sideways" movement will lessen over time as gravity fights against it. Maybe the Milky Way and Andromeda will orbit each other a couple of times before they officially collide.In any case, the collision itself should be millions of years off.

[dirk alan]

it will buff out.

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[Jerry]

Maybe, it will.

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