Our Fascinating Neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda spiral galaxy, also known as Messier 31, is the closest large galaxy to our own Milky Way. It is one of a few galaxies that is identifiable with the naked eye. Over the last three decades, many observational studies, primarily with the Hubble Space Telescope, have given us a very detailed picture of the past, the present, and even the future of M31. Given its proximity, M31 provides a great opportunity to better understand fundamental astrophysical processes like star formation and stellar evolution.

In this Blaauw Lecture, astronomer Evan Skillman describes many of the recent discoveries that have been made through observations of M31. For example, Hubble observations of M31 provide us with the best measurement of what fraction of stars end their lives as supernovae. Hubble observations also revealed that M31 is on a collision course with our own Milky Way galaxy.

Evan Skillman is a Distinguished Professor from the University of Minnesota and former director of the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society with visiting appointments at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, the Institute of Astronomy of Cambridge University, and the Canary Islands Institute for Astrophysics. He was a co-investigator of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury program which produced NASA's largest single image.

Blaauw Lecture
The Kapteyn Astronomical Institute organizes the yearly Blaauw lecture, in collaboration with Studium Generale. This is a lecture by an internationally renowned astronomer which everyone, including the general public, can attend. The Blaauw chair and Blaauw lecture were initiated in 1997 as one of six visiting professorships in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.