Shafaqna English- A new study has found that the Andromeda Galaxy has been steadily losing its ability to form new stars over the past 500 million years, with the decline accelerating dramatically during the last 40 million years, according to Tasnim News.
Using observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers analyzed nearly 200 million stars to reconstruct Andromeda’s recent history. The findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal, show that the galaxy’s star formation rate has dropped from about one solar mass per year 500 million years ago to just one-fifth of a solar mass annually today.
Researchers found no evidence that Andromeda has exhausted the gas and dust needed to create new stars. Instead, they believe the galaxy is naturally slowing down after an intense period of star formation that likely began around 2 billion years ago following a collision or close encounter with another galaxy.
The team also identified a region of reduced star formation near Andromeda’s companion galaxy, Messier 32 (M32), suggesting an interaction about 60 million years ago may have disrupted stellar nurseries, although the link has not been confirmed.
The findings could help scientists better understand the long-term evolution of galaxies, including the Milky Way, which is expected to merge with Andromeda in about 4.5 billion years. Future observations by NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope are expected to provide a more detailed view of the neighboring galaxy’s fading star-forming activity.
Source: Tasnim