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posted by mrpg on Friday February 16 2018, @06:44AM   Printer-friendly
from the twins dept.

Astronomers have discovered that our nearest large neighbour, the Andromeda galaxy, is roughly the same size as the Milky Way. It had been thought that Andromeda was two to three times the size of the Milky Way, and that our own galaxy would ultimately be engulfed by our supposedly bigger neighbour. But the latest research, published today, evens the score between the two galaxies.

The study found the weight of the Andromeda is 800 billion times heavier than the sun, on par with the Milky Way. Astrophysicist Dr Prajwal Kafle, from the University of Western Australia node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, said the study used a new technique to measure the speed required to escape a galaxy. "When a rocket is launched into space, it is thrown out with a speed of 11 km/s to overcome the Earth's gravitational pull," he said. "Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is over a trillion times heavier than our tiny planet Earth so to escape its gravitational pull we have to launch with a speed of 550 km/s. We used this technique to tie down the mass of Andromeda."

Milky Way ties with neighbor in galactic arms race

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday February 16 2018, @04:01PM

    by tangomargarine (667) on Friday February 16 2018, @04:01PM (#638857)

    The study found the weight of the Andromeda is 800 billion times heavier than the sun, on par with the Milky Way.

    Weight? Weight in relation to what? Usually you measure the weight of something as compared to the surface of whatever you're standing on, planet/sun/asteroid/whatever, but for an entire galaxy?

    Astrophysicist Dr Prajwal Kafle, from the University of Western Australia node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, said the study used a new technique to measure the speed required to escape a galaxy. "When a rocket is launched into space, it is thrown out with a speed of 11 km/s to overcome the Earth's gravitational pull," he said. "Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is over a trillion times heavier than our tiny planet Earth so to escape its gravitational pull we have to launch with a speed of 550 km/s.

    So in relation to the supermassive black hole at the middle, I guess? Does every galaxy have one of those?

    We used this technique to tie down the mass of Andromeda."

    Augh! Why are we suddenly switching to mass?!

    Or is it somehow easier to figure out the mass first and then work from there to math out the weight?

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