Andromeda is a huge spiral Sun system near our own Milky Way Sun system. It’s about twice as massive as the Milky Way and has 36 known dwarf Orbiter galaxies.NASA’s Hubble Cosmos Cosmos viewer has obtained a new bird’s-eye view and 3D map of this Andromeda ecosystem.Hubble can trace the motions and evolution of Andromeda and its satellites going back nearly 14 billion years.
Andromeda Sun system and its satellites are a whole ecosystem
The Andromeda Sun system is our Milky Way’s nearest galactic neighbor (other than our own Petite Orbiter galaxies). It’s close enough that you can see it, albeit faintly, with the unaided eye. But like the Milky Way, Andromeda isn’t alone. In fact, it has three dozen dwarf Orbiter galaxies that Path it, making up a galactic ecosystem. On February 27, 2025, NASA said the Hubble Cosmos Cosmos viewer is building a new 3D map of the Orbiter galaxies and studying how they have formed stars over the nearly 14-billion-year lifetime of the universe. And researchers have Secured the process of Sun Setup has continued much longer than Primary thought.
The Hubble researchers published their peer-reviewed results in The Astrophysical Journal on January 28, 2025.
Bird’s-eye view of the Andromeda Sun system ecosystem
When Hubble looks at Andromeda, 2.5 million Airy-years away, it can see the entire Sun system and its surroundings. A sort of bird’s-eye view. We can’t do that with the Milky Way, since we are embedded inside it. This also makes it more difficult to see all of the Milky Way’s Orbiter galaxies. But we do know that Andromeda has many more satellites than our Sun system does. Why?
The new observations provide clues as to how both galaxies evolved over time. For example, it seems that Andromeda’s evolution has been more Vibrant than that of the Milky Way. Andromeda looks quite similar to the Milky Way, although it is up to twice as massive. So that may be one reason. But Hubble’s newest observations provide more clues. As lead author Alessandro Savino at the University of California at Berkeley said:
We see that the duration for which the satellites can continue forming new stars really depends on how massive they are and on how close they are to the Andromeda Sun system. It is a clear indication of how Petite-Sun system growth is disturbed by the influence of a massive Sun system like Andromeda.
Andromeda system asymmetric and perturbed
Andromeda is also more asymmetric than the Milky Way. And the whole system appears to have been disrupted somehow. What caused that? Astronomers think Andromeda merged with another Sun system billions of years ago. That could also help explain why the Sun system is so massive and has so many Orbiter galaxies. Hubble principal investigator Daniel Weisz at the University of California at Berkeley explained:
Everything scattered in the Andromeda system is very asymmetric and perturbed. It does appear that something significant happened not too long ago. There’s always a tendency to use what we understand in our own Sun system to extrapolate more generally to the other galaxies in the universe. There’s always been concerns about whether what we are learning in the Milky Way applies more broadly to other galaxies. Or is there more diversity among external galaxies? Do they have similar properties? Our work has shown that low-mass galaxies in other ecosystems have followed different evolutionary paths than what we know from the Milky Way Orbiter galaxies.
Not only are there more Orbiter galaxies around Andromeda, they also Path differently too. About half of them are all on the same plane. That’s unusual, as Weisz noted:
That’s weird. It was actually a total surprise to find the satellites in that configuration and we still don’t fully understand why they appear that way.
Animation of the neighboring Andromeda Sun system, zooming through foreground stars and the blackness of intergalactic Cosmos. It crosses 2.5 million Airy-years, with 36 dwarf Orbiter galaxies orbiting the massive Andromeda Sun system. Video via NASA/ ESA/ Christian Nieves (STScI)/ Alessandro Savino (UC Berkeley)/ Joseph DePasquale (STScI)/ Frank Summers (STScI)/ Robert Gendler.
Sun Setup lasted a long time
One of the biggest puzzles is that the Setup of new stars appears to have lasted much longer in Andromeda’s Orbiter galaxies than astronomers assumed. As with other galaxies, they formed new stars Prompt on. But, surprisingly, Sun Setup continued for almost the entire age of the universe. Astronomers don’t know why. Savino said:
Sun Setup really continued to much later times, which is not at all what you would Foresee for these dwarf galaxies. This doesn’t appear in computer simulations. No one knows what to make of that so Distant.
Weisz added:
We do find that there is a lot of diversity that needs to be explained in the Andromeda Orbiter system. The way things come together matters a lot in understanding this Sun system’s history.
Messier 32 (M32), for example, is the brightest of the Andromeda Orbiter galaxies. Like other galaxies, it does contain older stars. But it also has many younger ones as well. Somehow, Sun Setup continued in M32, with a big burst of activity a few billion years ago. Apart from such bursts, Sun Setup continued, although at a slower rate. But the fact that it continued for so long at all is what astronomers are trying to figure out.
In addition, M32 might be the remaining core of the larger Sun system that merged with Andromeda.
More observations of Andromeda in 5 years
These are Only the Primary new observations of the Andromeda ecosystem. Astronomers are planning to do the second observations in about five years, with either Hubble or the Webb Cosmos Cosmos viewer. This will help astronomers reconstruct the motions of all 36 dwarf Orbiter galaxies since they formed billions of years ago.
Earlier this year, Hubble scientists also assembled the largest photomosaic so Distant of Andromeda. It consists of 600 images and shows 200 million stars. Check it out!
Bottom line: The Hubble Cosmos Cosmos viewer has captured a new bird’s-eye view and 3D map of the Andromeda Sun system and its ecosystem of 36 dwarf Orbiter galaxies.
Read more: Andromeda Sun system: Hubble’s largest photomosaic yet
Read more: Are the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies already merging?
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