Charlie Morningstar by StarSthormy

Seeing stars

The Milky Way and Andromeda are two of the most iconic and studied galaxies in the universe. Though they share similarities, they also have striking differences that make each one unique.

What They Have in Common
Spiral Shape: Both are majestic spiral galaxies, featuring sweeping arms of stars, gas, and dust wrapped around a central bulge.

Barred Structure: Each galaxy has a central bar-shaped core, a common feature in large spiral galaxies.

How They Differ
Size:
Andromeda spans ~220,000 light-years, making it nearly twice the size of the Milky Way, which measures about 100,000 light-years.

Location:
Milky Way is our cosmic home.
Andromeda lies 2.5 million light-years away from us.

Future Collision:
They're on a cosmic collision course! In about 4.5 billion years, the two galaxies are expected to merge, forming a new elliptical galaxy—sometimes dubbed Milkomeda.

Unique Traits
Andromeda: Hosts a larger entourage of satellite galaxies, including dozens of dwarfs in orbit.

Milky Way: Features a richer, more dynamic structure with a pronounced bar and vivid, active spiral arms.

Together, these galactic giants help scientists unravel the mysteries of how galaxies form, evolve, and interact across billions of years.

Launched on September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 began its mission to explore the outer planets—and became the farthest human-made object from Earth. It flew by Jupiter in 1979, revealing volcanic activity on Io, and then Saturn in 1980, capturing the first detailed images of its rings and moons.

In 1990, Voyager 1 turned around to take the iconic "Pale Blue Dot" photo—Earth seen from 6 billion kilometers away.
In 2012, it entered interstellar space, making history as the first spacecraft to do so.

Now, nearly 50 years later, Voyager 1 continues to send data back to Earth from over 15 billion miles away, crossing the boundary where the solar wind ends and the realm of the stars begins.

It carries the Golden Record, a time capsule of sounds, music, and greetings from Earth—our message to the cosmos.

Astronomers Just Found a Magnetar That Breaks All the Rules

Magnetars are among the most extreme objects in the universe—ultra-dense neutron stars with magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than Earth’s. But a recent discovery is turning our understanding of their origins upside down.

Using data from NASA’s Hubble and ESA’s Gaia space telescopes, scientists traced the motion of a magnetar named SGR 0501+4516—and what they found is shocking. Contrary to long-standing beliefs, this magnetar likely didn’t form from a typical core-collapse supernova.

SGR 0501 sits near a known supernova remnant called HB9, and for years, scientists assumed the two were connected. But precision tracking shows the magnetar couldn’t have come from HB9—or any nearby supernova explosion.

So where did it come from?

Researchers propose a more exotic origin: a white dwarf that collapsed after feeding off a companion star, growing too massive and unstable. This alternative path could form a magnetar without any supernova at all.

If confirmed, SGR 0501+4516 would be the strongest case yet for a magnetar formed through an unconventional route—forcing astronomers to rethink how these magnetic monsters are born and opening new doors in high-energy astrophysics.

RESEARCH
A.A. Chrimes et al., “The infrared counterpart and proper motion of magnetar SGR 0501+4516”, Astronomy & Astrophysics (2025)