Andromeda galaxy
© NASA/JPL-Caltec
Hey neighbour, it's World Space Week!
Space is a big, lonely place, so it's nice to know we have neighbours. The pictured Andromeda Galaxy is our Milky Way's closest - just next door at 2.5 million light years away. Our cordial relationship with Andromeda goes back about 10 billion years to when both galaxies were still forming. But trouble is brewing: Andromeda is on a collision course with the Milky Way, due for impact in four billion years. There goes the neighbourhood.
At some point, in the four billion years we have left, why not turn your attention to the stars, whether on a trip to the countryside, the planetarium, or your back garden? This week’s a good time to start, World Space Week runs from 4-10 October.
Related Images
Bonfire to celebrate New Year's Eve in 2014 in Reykjavik, Iceland
Stars reflecting in Totensee, a mountain lake at Grimsel Pass, Kanton Bern, Switzerland
Milky Way over Acadia National Park, Maine, USA
Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635)
The Large Magellanic Cloud, photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope
The Villarrica volcano in Chile on 2 September, 2018
Dartmoor's Scorhill Stone Circle under a starry night sky, Devon.
Aurora Borealis above the Brooks Range in Alaska, USA
Bing Today Images
Jupiter's icy moon Europa
Oct 04, 2024
Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula
Oct 04, 2022
Sequence of enhanced-colour images of Jupiter
Oct 04, 2019
Buzz Aldrin's boot on lunar soil, Apollo 11 mission
Oct 04, 2017
