Hubble Detects Massive Gas Halo Surrounding Andromeda Galaxy

Space





Photo credit:

NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI). Quasars located behind the Andromeda Galaxy's halo are obscured, while those in other directions can be seen more clearly

The nearest large galaxy to our own has a halo that stretches out for a million light-years around it and almost half way to the Milky Way, The Hubble Telescope has observed. The halo is six times as large as previously thought, and more surprisingly, has a thousand times the anticipated mass.