NASA Hubble study finds Andromeda star formation slowing over the last 40 million years

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found that the Andromeda galaxy has been slowing its star formation for about 500 million years with a steeper drop in the last 40 million years, NASA announced. By mapping two-thirds of Andromeda's disk and studying 200 million stars, scientists pieced together the cosmic slowdown. The study links a burst of star formation about two billion years ago to a probable merger with another galaxy. Since then, star formation has quieted down, especially in a ring 32,000 light-years from the galaxy's center. Lead author Tobin Wainer of the University of Washington said it is not because the galaxy ran out of material but more like a breather after all that action.