The Andromeda galaxy may be getting bullied by a smaller galactic neighbor, scientists find

Thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have shed light on a recent chapter in the history of our Milky Way's neighboring galaxy, Andromeda.

Using Hubble Space Telescope observations of Andromeda's stars, a research team showed that the spiral galaxy's rate of making new stars has dramatically slowed down in the last 40 million years. And they've found more evidence that one of Andromeda's own neighbors — a smaller galaxy called M32 — may be to blame.

"We can't explicitly say that we are seeing a decrease in star formation because of M32. But it's right there, and it's definitely the most likely suspect," said Tobin Wainer, a graduate student at the University of Washington and one of the astronomers, in a statement.