Searching for Ancient Rocks in the ‘Forlandet’ Flats
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Searching for Ancient Rocks in the ‘Forlandet’ Flats NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the “Fallbreen” workspace using its onboard Left Navigation Camera (Navcam). The camera is located high on the rover’s mast and aids in driving. This image was acquired on May 22, 2025 (Sol 1512, or Martian day 1,512 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 14:39:01. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Written by Henry Manelski, Ph.D. student at Purdue University
This week Perseverance continued its gradual descent into the relatively flat terrain outside of Jezero Crater. In this area, the science team expects to find rocks that could be among the oldest ever observed by the Perseverance rover — and perhaps any rover to have explored the surface of Mars — presenting a unique opportunity to understand Mars’ ancient past. Perseverance is now parked at “Fallbreen,” a light-toned bedrock exposure that the science team hopes to compare to the nearby olivine-bearing outcrop at “Copper Cove.” This could be a glimpse of the geologic unit rich in olivine and carbonate that stretches hundreds of kilometers to the west of Jezero Crater. Gaining insight into how these rocks formed could have profound implications for our constantly evolving knowledge of this region’s history. Perseverance’s recent traverses marked another notable transition. After rolling past Copper Cove, Perseverance entered the “Forlandet” quadrangle, a 1.2-square-kilometer (about 0.46 square mile, or 297-acre) area along the edge of the crater that the science team named after Forlandet National Park on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Discovered in the late 16th century by Dutch explorers, this icy set of islands captured the imagination of a generation of sailors searching for the Northwest Passage. While Perseverance is in the Forlandet quad, landforms and rock targets will be named informally after sites in and around this national park on Earth. As the rover navigates through its own narrow passes in the spirit of discovery, driving around sand dunes and breezing past buttes, we hope it channels the perseverance of the explorers who once gave these rocks their names.
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Cambridge researcher awarded the Shaw Prize in Astronomy
Efstathiou, Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics (1909) at Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, shares the prize with Professor John Richard Bond from the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and the University of Toronto.
They were recognised for their pioneering research in cosmology, in particular for their studies of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background. Their predictions have been verified by an armada of ground-, balloon- and space-based instruments, leading to precise determinations of the age, geometry, and mass-energy content of the universe.
Cosmology has undergone a revolution in the past two decades, driven mainly by increasingly precise measurements of the angular power spectrum of fluctuations in the temperature and polarisation fields of the cosmic microwave background, a relic of the early universe, most notably by NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe spacecraft (2001–2010) and the European Space Agency’s Planck spacecraft (2009–2013).
These fluctuations are small — the strength of the background radiation is the same in all directions to better than 0.01% and it is only slightly polarised — but they offer a glimpse of the universe when it was very young, a test of many aspects of fundamental physics, insights into the nature of dark matter and dark energy, and measurements of many fundamental cosmological parameters with accuracies unimaginable to cosmologists a few decades ago.
Although many researchers contributed to the development of the theoretical framework that governs the behaviour of the cosmic microwave background, Bond and Efstathiou emphasised the importance of the background as a cosmological probe and took the crucial step of making precise predictions for what can be learned from specific models of the history and the composition of the mass and energy in the universe.
Modern numerical codes used to interpret the experimental results are based almost entirely on the physics developed by Bond and Efstathiou. Their work exemplifies one of the rare cases in astrophysics where later experimental studies accurately confirmed unambiguous, powerful theoretical predictions.
The interpretation of these experiments through Bond and Efstathiou’s theoretical models shows that the spatial geometry of the observable universe is nearly flat, and yields the age of the universe with a precision of 0.15%, the rate of expansion of the universe with a precision of 0.5%, the fraction of the critical density arising from dark energy to better than 1%, and so on. The measurements also strongly constrain theories of the early universe that might have provided the initial “seed” for all the cosmic structure we see today, and the nature of the dark matter and dark energy that dominate the mass-energy content of the universe.
Both Bond and Efstathiou have worked closely with experimentalists to bring their predictions to the test: they have been heavily involved in the analysis of cosmic microwave background data arising from a wide variety of experiments of growing sophistication and accuracy.
George Efstathiou received his BA in Physics from the University of Oxford and PhD in Astronomy from Durham University. He has held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California, Berkeley, USA and the University of Cambridge. He was Savilian Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford, where he served as Head of Astrophysics until 1994. He returned to Cambridge in 1997 as Professor of Astrophysics, where he also served as Director of the Institute of Astronomy and the first Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology. He received the 2022 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and the Royal Astronomical Society, UK. He is a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.
Originally published on the Shaw Prize website.
Professor George Efstathiou has been awarded the Shaw Prize in Astronomy, one of the biggest prizes in the field.
Shaw PrizeJohn Richard Bond (left) and George Efstathiou (right)
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NASA’s IXPE Obtains First X-ray Polarization Measurement of Magnetar Outburst
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)What happens when the universe’s most magnetic object shines with the power of 1000 Suns in a matter of seconds? Thanks to NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), a mission in collaboration with ASI (Italian Space Agency), scientists are one step closer to understanding this extreme event.
Magnetars are a type of young neutron star – a stellar remnant formed when a massive star reaches the end of its life and collapses in on itself, leaving behind a dense core roughly the mass of the Sun, but squashed down to the size of a city. Neutron stars display some of the most extreme physics in the observable universe and present unique opportunities to study conditions that would otherwise be impossible to replicate in a laboratory on Earth.
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Illustrated magnetar flyby sequence showing magnetic field lines. A magnetar is a type of isolated neutron star, the crushed, city-size remains of a star many times more massive than our Sun. Their magnetic fields can be 10 trillion times stronger than a refrigerator magnet's and up to a thousand times stronger than a typical neutron star's. This represents an enormous storehouse of energy that astronomers suspect powers magnetar outbursts.NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)The magnetar 1E 1841-045, located in the remnants of a supernova (SNR Kes 73) nearly 28,000 light-years from Earth, was observed to be in a state of outburst by NASA’s Swift, Fermi, and NICER telescopes on August 21, 2024.
A few times a year, the IXPE team approves requests to interrupt the telescope’s scheduled observations to instead focus on unique and unexpected celestial events. When magnetar 1E 1841-045 entered this brighter, active state, scientists decided to redirect IXPE to obtain the first-ever polarization measurements of a flaring magnetar.
Magnetars have magnetic fields several thousand times stronger than most neutron stars and host the strongest magnetic fields of any known object in the universe. Disturbances to their extreme magnetic fields can cause a magnetar to release up to a thousand times more X-ray energy than it normally would for several weeks. This enhanced state is called an outburst, but the mechanisms behind them are still not well understood.
Through IXPE’s X-ray polarization measurements, scientists may be able to get closer to uncovering the mysteries of these events. Polarization carries information about the orientation and alignment of the emitted X-ray light waves; the higher the degree of polarization, the more the X-ray waves are traveling in sync, akin to a tightly choreographed dance performance. Examining the polarization characteristics of magnetars reveals clues about the energetic processes producing the observed photons as well as the direction and geometry of the magnetar magnetic fields.
The IXPE results, aided by observations from NASA’s NuSTAR and NICER telescopes, show that the X-ray emissions from 1E 1841-045 become more polarized at higher energy levels while still maintaining the same direction of propagation. A significant contribution to this high polarization degree comes from the hard X-ray tail of 1E 1841-045, an energetic magnetospheric component dominating the highest photon energies observed by IXPE. “Hard X-rays” refer to X-rays with shorter wavelengths and higher energies than “soft X-rays.” Although prevalent in magnetars, the mechanics driving the production of these high energy X-ray photons are still largely unknown. Several theories have been proposed to explain this emission, but now the high polarization associated with these hard X-rays provide further clues into their origin.
This illustration depicts IXPE’s measurements of X-ray polarization emitting from magnetar 1E 1841-045 located within the Supernova Remnant Kes 73. At the time of observation, the magnetar was in a state of outburst and emitting the luminosity equivalent to 1000 suns. By studying the X-ray polarization of magnetars experiencing an outburst scientists may be able to get closer to uncovering the mysteries of these events. Michela Rigoselli/Italian National Institute of Astrophysics
The results are presented in two papers published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, one led by Rachael Stewart, a PhD student at George Washington University, and the other by Michela Rigoselli of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics..
“This unique observation will help advance the existing models aiming to explain magnetar hard X-ray emission by requiring them to account for this very high level of synchronization we see among these hard X-ray photons,” said Stewart. “This really showcases the power of polarization measurements in constraining physics in the extreme environments of magnetars.”
Rigoselli, lead author of the companion paper, added, “It will be interesting to observe 1E 1841-045 once it has returned to its quiescent, baseline state to follow the evolution of its polarimetric properties.”
IXPE is a space observatory built to discover the secrets of some of the most extreme objects in the universe. Launched in December 2021 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket, the IXPE mission is part of NASA’s Small Explorer series.
IXPE, which continues to provide unprecedented data enabling groundbreaking discoveries about celestial objects across the universe, is a joint NASA and Italian Space Agency mission with partners and science collaborators in 12 countries. IXPE is led by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. BAE Systems, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, manages spacecraft operations together with the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder.
Learn more about IXPE’s ongoing mission here:
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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a sparkling cloudscape from one of the Milky Way’s galactic neighbors, a dwarf galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Located 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest of the Milky Way’s many small satellite galaxies.
This view of dusty gas clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud is possible thanks to Hubble’s cameras, such as the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) that collected the observations for this image. WFC3 holds a variety of filters, and each lets through specific wavelengths, or colors, of light. This image combines observations made with five different filters, including some that capture ultraviolet and infrared light that the human eye cannot see.
The wispy gas clouds in this image resemble brightly colored cotton candy. When viewing such a vividly colored cosmic scene, it is natural to wonder whether the colors are ‘real’. After all, Hubble, with its 7.8-foot-wide (2.4 m) mirror and advanced scientific instruments, doesn’t bear resemblance to a typical camera! When image-processing specialists combine raw filtered data into a multi-colored image like this one, they assign a color to each filter. Visible-light observations typically correspond to the color that the filter allows through. Shorter wavelengths of light such as ultraviolet are usually assigned blue or purple, while longer wavelengths like infrared are typically red.
This color scheme closely represents reality while adding new information from the portions of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans cannot see. However, there are endless possible color combinations that can be employed to achieve an especially aesthetically pleasing or scientifically insightful image.
Learn how Hubble images are taken and processed.
Text credit: ESA/Hubble
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray
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A surprising pattern of spatial distribution was discovered in dwarf galaxies, whereby diffuse ones cluster more strongly than do compact ones — opposite to the trend seen in massive galaxies. This finding challenges standard models of the formation of galactic structures, calling for theories about the assembly of visible- and dark-matter structures to be revised.Dark Skies Council: International astronomical observatories join forces to protect Chile's skies
Faced with the growing risk that light pollution represents for the development of astronomy in Chile, the main international observatories with a presence in the country have formed a joint organization dedicated to protecting the dark skies of northern Chile. The council will act through Fundación Cielos de Chile and the Office for the Protection of the Quality of the Northern Chilean Sky (OPCC), with the objective of coordinating strategies and articulating actions in the face of the advance of light pollution.
Light pollution is increasing by 9.6% each year, according to a study published in Science magazine. Chile's skies are also being affected by this phenomenon and it is estimated that a 10% increase in sky brightness would mean a loss of 12.07% of the original capacity of the optical telescopes located in the country.
In response to this problem, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Las Campanas Observatory of the Carnegie Institution for Science, signed an agreement to create the Dark Skies Council. Through this alliance, the institutions will work in a coordinated manner to protect Chile's privileged skies.
The signatory institutions manage some of the largest and most advanced optical observatories in the world, all of them located in Chile: AURA is in charge of the Cerro Tololo Observatory, Gemini South and the under-construction Vera C. Rubin Observatory; the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), also under construction, will be installed at Las Campanas, where the Carnegie Science Institution currently operates its observatory; while ESO operates observatories at Paranal and La Silla, and will soon operate the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) under construction at Cerro Armazones.
The importance of caring for dark skiesThanks to the exceptional quality of its skies, Chile today concentrates nearly 40% of the world's astronomical observation capacity. In the last two decades, the number of astronomical institutions has doubled in the country, and the number of people dedicated to this science has tripled. In addition, three mega-telescopes will be installed in the coming years, which will be among the largest in the world, with a total investment of more than 5 billion dollars. Their operation will allow Chile to exceed 60% of the global astronomical observation capacity by 2030.
However, this leadership is at risk. The sustained increase of light pollution sources from urban centers, industrial and mining operations, ports and highways threatens the natural darkness of the night sky in the regions of Antofagasta, Atacama and Coquimbo, key areas for astronomy. "The quality and darkness of the night sky are fundamental to the scientific operations of our observatories. The preservation of the dark skies of northern Chile is a priority for the signatory institutions, since the continuity of their present and future activities depends on it," states the signed agreement.
What is the Dark Skies Council and who are its members?The Dark Skies Council is composed of six representatives of the observatories and its main mission will be to define and monitor the implementation of a common strategy to protect dark skies. Its functions include coordinating activities with the Office for the Protection of Sky Quality in Northern Chile (OPCC) and Fundación Cielos de Chile, as well as the management and allocation of resources to implement concrete initiatives in the territory.
The OPCC works for the protection of dark skies, essential for astronomy, and provides technical support to facilitate the implementation of light pollution regulations in the regions of Antofagasta, Atacama and Coquimbo. For 25 years it has collaborated with municipalities, local communities and regional actors to promote actions for the prevention and reduction of this type of pollution.
For its part, the work of Fundación Cielos de Chile has focused on the conservation of the night skies as the country's natural, scientific and cultural heritage, and promotes the responsible use of artificial light for the benefit of science, biodiversity, human health and sustainable tourism.
The Council appointed Oscar Contreras, who is GMT's Vice President and Representative in Chile, as its first Director. Contreras has extensive experience at the intersection of science, public policy and conservation.
Thus, as Chile strengthens its leadership in dark skies protection, the launch of the Dark Skies Council marks a new era characterized by proactive stewardship to preserve one of Earth's most important windows to the cosmos.
More Information About AURAThe Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1957 in the United States and is composed of 49 U.S. institutions and 3 international affiliates, including the University of Chile and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
AURA is a scientific institution that builds, maintains and operates world-class ground-based optical telescope facilities for the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) through the NSF NOIRLab center and the National Solar Observatory (NSO). For NASA, AURA manages the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).
NSF NOIRLab is the leading U.S. national center for ground-based astronomy in the optical and infrared range. In Chile it manages the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Gemini South of the Gemini International Observatory, and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (currently under construction). Rubin Observatory (currently under construction). NSF NOIRLab enables the diverse and inclusive astronomical community to advance humanity's understanding of the Universe by developing and operating state-of-the-art ground-based observatories and providing data products and services to the entire community.
About ESOThe European Southern Observatory (ESO) provides the global scientific community with the means to unlock the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate state-of-the-art ground-based observatories - used by the astronomical community to address exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy - and promote international collaboration in astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organization in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States), with Chile as host country and Australia as a strategic partner. ESO's headquarters and its planetarium and visitor center, the ESO Supernova, are located near Munich (Germany), while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a wonderful place with unique conditions for observing the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope together with its interferometer VLTI (Very Large Telescope Interferometer), and survey telescopes such as VISTA. Also at Paranal, ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world's largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. At Chajnantor, together with international partners, ESO operates ALMA, a facility that observes the skies in the millimeter and submillimeter range. On Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building "the world's biggest eye on the sky": the ESO Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). From our offices in Santiago (Chile), we support the development of our operations in the country and are committed to Chilean partners and Chilean society.
About the Giant Magellan TelescopeThe Giant Magellan Telescope is the future of space exploration from Earth. It will have seven of the world's largest mirrors, which will form a 25.4-meter telescope to produce images of the Universe with an unprecedented level of detail. It will shed new light on the cosmic mysteries of dark matter, investigate the origins of chemical elements and confirm, for the first time, the existence of signs of life on distant planets. The Giant Magellan Telescope is a project of the GMTO Corporation, an international consortium of 14 universities and research institutions representing the United States, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, South Korea and Taiwan. The telescope is being built in the United States and will be assembled in Chile in the early 2030s. Learn more about The Universe Awaits at giantmagellan.org.
About Las Campanas ObservatoryCarnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile provides the scientific community with access to world-class telescopes with views of the Magellanic clouds and the entire southern sky. Carnegie Science is headquartered on Broad Branch Road in Washington, D.C., with three research divisions on both coasts of the United States and Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. It is a nonprofit, independent, endowed organization under the direction of President John Mulchaey. Carnegie Science empowers its researchers to answer the most important questions of our time, making discoveries that transform our understanding of life, the planets and the universe at large. The research breakthroughs made have radically changed the way we understand science.
NASA’s Webb Rounds Out Picture of Sombrero Galaxy’s Disk
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After capturing an image of the iconic Sombrero galaxy at mid-infrared wavelengths in late 2024, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now followed up with an observation in the near-infrared. In the newest image, the Sombrero galaxy’s huge bulge, the tightly packed group of stars at the galaxy’s center, is illuminated, while the dust in the outer edges of the disk blocks some stellar light.
Image A: Sombrero Galaxy (NIRCam) NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s new image of the famous Sombrero galaxy in near-infrared wavelengths shows dust from the outer ring blocking stellar light from the inner portions of the galaxy. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Studying galaxies like the Sombrero at different wavelengths, including the near-infrared and mid-infrared with Webb, as well as the visible with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, helps astronomers understand how this complex system of stars, dust, and gas formed and evolved, along with the interplay of that material.
When compared to Hubble’s visible light image, the dust disk doesn’t look as pronounced in the new near-infrared image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. That’s because the longer, redder wavelengths of infrared light emitted by stars slip past dust more easily, so less of that stellar light is blocked. In the mid-infrared image, we actually see that dust glow.
Image B: Sombrero Galaxy (NIRCam/MIRI) The Sombrero galaxy is split diagonally in this image: near-infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are at the left, and mid-infrared observations from Webb are at the right. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
The Sombrero galaxy is located about 30 million light-years away from Earth at the edge of the Virgo galaxy cluster, and has a mass equal to about 800 billion Suns. This galaxy sits “edge on” to us, meaning we see it from its side.
Studies have indicated that hiding behind the galaxy’s smooth dust lane and calming glow is a turbulent past. A few oddities discovered over the years have hinted this galaxy was once part of a violent merger with at least one other galaxy.
The Sombrero is home to roughly 2,000 globular clusters, or collections of hundreds of thousands of old stars held together by gravity. Spectroscopic studies have shown the stars within these globular clusters are unexpectedly different from one another.
Stars that form around the same time from the same material should have similar chemical ‘fingerprints’ – for example, the same amounts of elements like oxygen or neon. However, this galaxy’s globular clusters show noticeable variation. A merger of different galaxies over billions of years would explain this difference.
Another piece of evidence supporting this merger theory is the warped appearance of the galaxy’s inner disk.
While our view is classified as “edge on,” we’re actually seeing this nearly edge on. Our view six degrees off the galaxy’s equator means we don’t see it directly from the side, but a little bit from above. From this view, the inner disk appears tilted inward, like the beginning of a funnel, instead of flat.
Video A: Sombrero Galaxy Fade (Visible, Near-Infrared, Mid-Infrared) This video compares images of the Sombrero galaxy, also known as Messier 104 (M104). The first image shows visible light observed by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The second is in near-infrared light and shows NASA’s Webb Space Telescope’s look at the galaxy using NIRCam (Near-Infrared Instrument). The final image shows mid-infrared light observed by Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument).Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
The powerful resolution of Webb’s NIRCam also allows us to resolve individual stars outside of, but not necessarily at the same distance as, the galaxy, some of which appear red. These are called red giants, which are cooler stars, but their large surface area causes them to glow brightly in this image. These red giants also are detected in the mid-infrared, while the smaller, bluer stars in the near-infrared “disappear” in the longer wavelengths.
Also in the NIRCam image, galaxies of diverse shapes and colors are scattered throughout the backdrop of space. The variety of their colors provides astronomers with clues about their characteristics, such as their distance from Earth.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To learn more about Webb, visit:
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Media ContactsLaura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
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Article: Types of Galaxies
Video: Different types of galaxies
Article: Sombrero Galaxy’s Halo Suggests Turbulent Past
More Images: Images of the Sombrero Galaxy in different types of light
Video: Sonification of Sombrero Galaxy images
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Apocalypse When? Hubble Casts Doubt on Certainty of Galactic Collision
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As far back as 1912, astronomers realized that the Andromeda galaxy — then thought to be only a nebula — was headed our way. A century later, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope were able to measure the sideways motion of Andromeda and found it was so negligible that an eventual head-on collision with the Milky Way seemed almost certain.
A smashup between our own galaxy and Andromeda would trigger a firestorm of star birth, supernovae, and maybe toss our Sun into a different orbit. Simulations had suggested it was as inevitable as, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, “death and taxes.”
But now a new study using data from Hubble and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia space telescope says “not so fast.” Researchers combining observations from the two space observatories re-examined the long-held prediction of a Milky Way – Andromeda collision, and found it is far less inevitable than astronomers had previously suspected.
“We have the most comprehensive study of this problem today that actually folds in all the observational uncertainties,” said Till Sawala, astronomer at the University of Helsinki in Finland and lead author of the study, which appears today in the journal Nature Astronomy.
His team includes researchers at Durham University, United Kingdom; the University of Toulouse, France; and the University of Western Australia. They found that there is approximately a 50-50 chance of the two galaxies colliding within the next 10 billion years. They based this conclusion on computer simulations using the latest observational data.
These galaxy images illustrate three possible encounter scenarios between our Milky Way and the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. Top left: Galaxies M81 and M82. Top right: NGC 6786, a pair of interacting galaxies. Bottom: NGC 520, two merging galaxies. Science: NASA, ESA, STScI, DSS, Till Sawala (University of Helsinki); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)Sawala emphasized that predicting the long-term future of galaxy interactions is highly uncertain, but the new findings challenge the previous consensus and suggest the fate of the Milky Way remains an open question.
“Even using the latest and most precise observational data available, the future of the Local Group of several dozen galaxies is uncertain. Intriguingly, we find an almost equal probability for the widely publicized merger scenario, or, conversely, an alternative one where the Milky Way and Andromeda survive unscathed,” said Sawala.
The collision of the two galaxies had seemed much more likely in 2012, when astronomers Roeland van der Marel and Tony Sohn of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland published a detailed analysis of Hubble observations over a five-to-seven-year period, indicating a direct impact in no more than 5 billion years.
“It’s somewhat ironic that, despite the addition of more precise Hubble data taken in recent years, we are now less certain about the outcome of a potential collision. That’s because of the more complex analysis and because we consider a more complete system. But the only way to get to a new prediction about the eventual fate of the Milky Way will be with even better data,” said Sawala.
100,000 Crash-Dummy SimulationsAstronomers considered 22 different variables that could affect the potential collision between our galaxy and our neighbor, and ran 100,000 simulations called Monte Carlo simulations stretching to 10 billion years into the future.
“Because there are so many variables that each have their errors, that accumulates to rather large uncertainty about the outcome, leading to the conclusion that the chance of a direct collision is only 50% within the next 10 billion years,” said Sawala.
“The Milky Way and Andromeda alone would remain in the same plane as they orbit each other, but this doesn’t mean they need to crash. They could still go past each other,” said Sawala.
Researchers also considered the effects of the orbits of Andromeda’s large satellite galaxy, M33, and a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way called the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
“The extra mass of Andromeda’s satellite galaxy M33 pulls the Milky Way a little bit more towards it. However, we also show that the LMC pulls the Milky Way off the orbital plane and away from Andromeda. It doesn’t mean that the LMC will save us from that merger, but it makes it a bit less likely,” said Sawala.
In about half of the simulations, the two main galaxies fly past each other separated by around half a million light-years or less (five times the Milky Way’s diameter). They move outward but then come back and eventually merge in the far future. The gradual decay of the orbit is caused by a process called dynamical friction between the vast dark-matter halos that surround each galaxy at the beginning.
In most of the other cases, the galaxies don’t even come close enough for dynamical friction to work effectively. In this case, the two galaxies can continue their orbital waltz for a very long time.
The new result also still leaves a small chance of around 2% for a head-on collision between the galaxies in only 4 to 5 billion years. Considering that the warming Sun makes Earth uninhabitable in roughly 1 billion years, and the Sun itself will likely burn out in 5 billion years, a collision with Andromeda is the least of our cosmic worries.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
Explore MoreHubble Provides Bird’s-Eye View of Andromeda Galaxy’s Ecosystem (2025)
Hubble Shows Milky Way is Destined for Head-on Collision with Andromeda Galaxy (2012)
Galaxy Details and Mergers
Hubble Traces Hidden History of Andromeda Galaxy (2025)
Hubble’s High-Definition Panoramic View of the Andromeda Galaxy (2015)
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Related Images & Videos Milky Way and Andromeda Encounters
This selection of images of external galaxies illustrates three encounter scenarios between our Milky Way and the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. Top left: Galaxies M81 and M82. Top right: NGC 6786, a pair of interacting galaxies. Bottom: NGC 520, two merging galaxies.
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Claire Andreoli
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Space Telescope Science Institute
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A Star Like No Other
An unusual star (circled in white at right) behaving like no other seen before and its surroundings are featured in this composite image released on May 28, 2025. A team of astronomers combined data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope on Wajarri Country in Australia to study the discovered object, known as ASKAP J1832−0911 (ASKAP J1832 for short).
ASKAP J1832 belongs to a class of objects called “long period radio transients” discovered in 2022 that vary in radio wave intensity in a regular way over tens of minutes. This is thousands of times longer than the length of the repeated variations seen in pulsars, which are rapidly spinning neutron stars that have repeated variations multiple times a second. ASKAP J1832 cycles in radio wave intensity every 44 minutes, placing it into this category of long period radio transients. Using Chandra, the team discovered that ASKAP J1832 is also regularly varying in X-rays every 44 minutes. This is the first time that such an X-ray signal has been found in a long period radio transient.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ICRAR, Curtin Univ./Z. Wang et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL/CalTech/IPAC; Radio: SARAO/MeerKAT; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
Hubble Spies Paired Pinwheel on Its Own
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Hubble Spies Paired Pinwheel on Its Own This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC 3507 ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker
A single member of a galaxy pair takes centerstage in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. This beautiful spiral galaxy is NGC 3507, which is situated about 46 million light-years away in the constellation Leo (the Lion). NGC 3507’s classification is a barred spiral because the galaxy’s sweeping spiral arms emerge from the ends of a central bar of stars rather than the central core of the galaxy.
Though pictured solo here, NGC 3507 actually travels the universe with a galactic partner named NGC 3501 that is located outside the frame. While NGC 3507 is a quintessential galactic pinwheel, its partner resembles a streak of quicksilver across the sky. Despite looking completely different, both are spiral galaxies, simply seen from different angles.
For galaxies that are just a few tens of millions of light-years away, like NGC 3507 and NGC 3501, features like spiral arms, dusty gas clouds, and brilliant star clusters are on full display. More distant galaxies appear less detailed. See if you can spot any faraway galaxies in this image: they tend to be orange or yellow and can be anywhere from circular and starlike to narrow and elongated, with hints of spiral arms. Astronomers use instruments called spectrometers to split the light from these distant galaxies to study the nature of these objects in the early universe.
In addition to these far-flung companions, a much nearer object joins NGC 3507. The object is marked by four spikes of light: a star within the Milky Way, a mere 436 light-years away from Earth.
Text Credit: ESA/Hubble
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Science Behind the Discoveries
A giant telescope shrouded in mystery
Amazing images reveal new details in the sun's atmosphere
NASA’s MAVEN Makes First Observation of Atmospheric Sputtering at Mars
After a decade of searching, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere Volatile Evolution) mission has, for the first time, reported a direct observation of an elusive atmospheric escape process called sputtering that could help answer longstanding questions about the history of water loss on Mars.
Scientists have known for a long time, through an abundance of evidence, that water was present on Mars’ surface billions of years ago, but are still asking the crucial question, “Where did the water go and why?”
Early on in Mars’ history, the atmosphere of the Red Planet lost its magnetic field, and its atmosphere became directly exposed to the solar wind and solar storms. As the atmosphere began to erode, liquid water was no longer stable on the surface, so much of it escaped to space. But how did this once thick atmosphere get stripped away? Sputtering could explain it.
Sputtering is an atmospheric escape process in which atoms are knocked out of the atmosphere by energetic charge particles.
“It’s like doing a cannonball in a pool,” said Shannon Curry, principal investigator of MAVEN at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder and lead author of the study. “The cannonball, in this case, is the heavy ions crashing into the atmosphere really fast and splashing neutral atoms and molecules out.”
While scientists had previously found traces of evidence that this process was happening, they had never observed the process directly. The previous evidence came from looking at lighter and heavier isotopes of argon in the upper atmosphere of Mars. Lighter isotopes sit higher in the atmosphere than their heavier counterparts, and it was found that there were far fewer lighter isotopes than heavy argon isotopes in the Martian atmosphere. These lighter isotopes can only be removed by sputtering.
“It is like we found the ashes from a campfire,” said Curry. “But we wanted to see the actual fire, in this case sputtering, directly.”
To observe sputtering, the team needed simultaneous measurements in the right place at the right time from three instruments aboard the MAVEN spacecraft: the Solar Wind Ion Analyzer, the Magnetometer, and the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer. Additionally, the team needed measurements across the dayside and the nightside of the planet at low altitudes, which takes years to observe.
The combination of data from these instruments allowed scientists to make a new kind of map of sputtered argon in relation to the solar wind. This map revealed the presence of argon at high altitudes in the exact locations that the energetic particles crashed into the atmosphere and splashed out argon, showing sputtering in real time. The researchers also found that this process is happening at a rate four times higher than previously predicted and that this rate increases during solar storms.
The direct observation of sputtering confirms that the process was a primary source of atmospheric loss in Mars’ early history when the Sun’s activity was much stronger.
“These results establish sputtering’s role in the loss of Mars’ atmosphere and in determining the history of water on Mars,” said Curry.
The finding, published this week in Science Advances, is critical to scientists’ understanding of the conditions that allowed liquid water to exist on the Martian surface, and the implications that it has for habitability billions of years ago.
The MAVEN mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. MAVEN’s principal investigator is based at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, which is also responsible for managing science operations and public outreach and communications. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN mission. Lockheed Martin Space built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California provides navigation and Deep Space Network support.
More information on NASA’s MAVEN mission
By Willow Reed
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder
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