The Andromeda galaxy

The image below shows stars in the inner halo of the Andromeda galaxy, which can be thought of as a sister galaxy to our own Milky Way. The blue colored stars are moving toward us, while the red are moving away. Astronomers suggest that this configuration is the result of a collision between Andromeda and another galaxy that took place about two billion years ago. A similar collision is believed to have taken place in the Milky Way galaxy about 8-10 billion years ago. This is how galaxies grow.

Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/AURA/NSF/E. Slawik/D. de Martin/M. Zamani

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