For the first time, an international group of astrophysicists has been able to calculate the mass of the Milky Way and Andromeda based not only on the dwarf galaxies that surround them, but with references to other larger star clusters , belonging, such as the two cited, the so-called Local Group.
In addition, the experts have managed to combine in their measurements (something that had never been done before) two variables: the gravity that attracts the galaxies and the repulsive force that expands the universe and, therefore, moves them away from each other.
The result has been surprising, since Andromeda appears to be twice as massive as the Milky Way . Before this calculation was published in the specialized magazine Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , the most accurate to date, it was thought just the opposite: that our star home was considerably heavier than its neighbor . In addition, no less than 90% of the mass of both is dark matter, that is, it does not emit light and whose nature is still a mystery.
