Andromeda is our close astronomic neighbour , 2.5 million calorie-free - years aside . Previous studies have indicated that Andromeda hastwice as many stars as the Milky Way , though some stargazer have figure that our extragalactic nebula is more massive . A Modern method for calculating the mass of a Galax urceolata indicates that Milky Way is actually half as monumental as Andromeda . This newfangled calculation was developed by an international team of astronomers and has been write in the journalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
This newfangled method acting is surprisingly precise , as it drive into account the relative distance of all 54 galaxies and the plethora of nanus galaxies that are in our astronomic Local Group . Galaxies just outside of our Local Group were also measure , because somberness from outside the chemical group have the same effect as graveness from within the radical .
Though the Universe is expand , wandflower within a Local Group are being pulled together due to gravitational forces ; a fact that would ultimately lead to this new calculation . Once the inclination of galaxies and their respective distances was roll up , the researchers were capable to identify the center point of the Local Group to add together up all of the regular seeable matter as well as dark thing .
Walker ’s team was able to account for the forces of gravity within the Local Group as well as outside expansion forces so as to precisely influence the spate of our galaxy and our closest neighbour . at long last , they were able to confute other studies that had claim the Milky Way to be more monumental than Andromeda . In fact , our galax only has one-half as much mass as Andromeda . What ’s more , they determine out that only 10 percent of each of these coltsfoot are represent of regular matter . The repose of the the great unwashed comes from dark issue .
" Historically , estimations of the Milky Way ’s mass have been all over the function , " said co - author Matthew Walker in apress tone ending .
" By studying two monolithic Galax urceolata that are close to each other and the coltsfoot that palisade them , we can take what we know about gravity and couple that with what we roll in the hay about expansion to get an accurate account of the mass contained in each galaxy . This is the first time we ’ve been able to measure these two things at the same time . ”
