Hubble reveals Andromeda has made contact with our galaxy

A magnificent cloud of diffuse halo of plasma surrounding our galactic neighbor, Andromeda, was recently mapped by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope. This envelope of electrically-charged particles stretches 1.3 million light years from it’s home galaxy, halfway to the Milky Way. In some places, Andromeda’s halo stretches two million light years from its parent galaxy, two-thirds of the way to our home galaxy. This close proximity means that Andromeda, destined to collide with the Milky Way in several billion years, has made “first contact” with our home galaxy. Halo… halo… halo… is there anybody out there? The halo was found…

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