Andromeda
Position on the route: 45/45 · level needed 5000 · journey (Mk0 engine) 610.3 h
By the numbers
| Distance | 2.5 million light-years |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 220,000 light-years |
| Stars | about a trillion |
| Approach speed | 110 km/s |
| Collision | in about 4.5 billion years |
| Naked eye | yes, the farthest thing visible |
The story
The nearest large galaxy and the farthest thing the naked eye can see: a small smudge on a dark night. Edwin Hubble measured its distance in 1925 with its Cepheid variable stars and proved the Milky Way was not the whole universe.
The Milky Way and Andromeda close in at 110 km per second; in about 4.5 billion years they merge into an elliptical galaxy nicknamed ‘Milkomeda’. Stars are so sparse that hardly any will touch in the collision.
Even at light speed, 2.5 million years. In the game it is the reward of level 5000: humanity’s farthest outpost, an orbital station. Whoever gets here has given BOINC a truly extraordinary contribution.
Missions
- Hubble (1925): the distance
- Hubble Space Telescope (2015): a 1.5-gigapixel mosaic
- Gaia: Andromeda’s own motion
Colony note
The last stop. A station, a flag, and the whole disc of the Milky Way in the sky.
☠ The neighbouring galaxy: an orbital station, humanity’s farthest outpost.
What probes bring back
- Distance 2.5 million light-years (Cepheid measurement, Hubble 1925).
- Approaching at 110 km/s; the merger in 4.5 billion years.