1. The Andromeda Galaxy
By: Briana Larson

2. Constellation The Andromeda constellation are in the northern sky
It was cataloged by a Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century
The constellation was named after the mythical princess Andromeda who is known as the wife of Greek hero Perseus Andromeda constellation

3. Myth Cetus the sea monster Queen Cassiopeia King Cephus Pegasus
The myth is about Andromeda, daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia of Ethiopia. The Queen offended the sea nymphs by saying that she was more beautiful than they were. The nymphs complained to Poseidon and he sent Cetus (the sea monster) to destroy King Cepheus’ lands as punishment. The king got advice from the Oracle of Ammon on how to prevent his land’s destruction. The oracle told them that the only way was to sacrifice Andromeda to Cetus. Cepheus and Cassiopeia had Andromeda be chained to a rock on a cliff. Perseus intervened when he was riding home on Pegasus and heard Andromeda’s screams as Cetus was getting closer to her. Perseus charged towards Cetus with Medusa’s head and turned Cetus to stone making sure Andromeda didn’t get turned to stone too. Perseus unchained Andromeda and the two fell in love and had 6 children.
Pegasus
Perseus

4. Collisions with other galaxies
The Andromeda Galaxy has collided with many other galaxies including M32
In about 3 to 5 billion years (about the lifetime of our sun) Andromeda and our Milky Way will collide
When our Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy collide it will form an elliptical galaxy
Messier 32

5. Elliptical Galaxies An elliptical galaxy is a circular galaxy
Elliptical galaxies have very little gas and dust
Elliptical galaxies also have little star formation because stars form from gas
Most of the stars on elliptical galaxies are old and red
Elliptical galaxies
Messier 87 (elliptical galaxy)

6. Triangulum Galaxy The Trinagulum Galaxy/M33 is Andromeda’s satellite
The Triangulum galaxy/M33
Triangulum Galaxy
The Trinagulum Galaxy/M33 is Andromeda’s satellite
M33 will join the collision between Andromeda and the Milky Way
It might merge with the Andromeda-Milky Way galaxy later
There is a small chance that M33 will hit the Milky Way first

7. Distance and Size compared to our Milky Way
The Andromeda Galaxy is about 2.5 million light years away from the Milky Way
Andromeda is the closest galaxy to our Milky Way
The Andromeda Galaxy is over twice as long as the Milky Way Andromeda

8. The Spitzer Space Telescope
The Spitzer Space Telescope has seen the Andromeda Galaxy
It has shown that Andromeda is no longer a spiral galaxy but more of a galaxy that looks like a ring The Spitzer Space Telescope Spitzer’s image of Andromeda

9. Stars and Planets The Andromeda Galaxy is the home to a trillion stars
Andromeda is too far away that we can’t see any planets in Andromeda
On the Andromeda Galaxy there has been a discovery of an “asymptotic giant branch” star
This type of star is short lived and can be also found in the Milky Way

10. What Astronomers first thought
The Andromeda Galaxy was first thought to be a nebula
Charles Messier guessed that it was about 2,000 times further out than Sirius the star
Heber Curtis said that Andromeda was 500,000 light years away and was a separate “island universe”
Edwin Hubble calculated that the galaxy was actually 1.5 million light years away in 1925