Andromeda Galaxy (M31 / NGC 224)
- Type: Spiral Galaxy
- Distance: Approximately 2.537 million light years from Earth
- Size: About 220,000 light years in diameter
- Apparent size: 178 x 63 arc minutes
- Apparent magnitude: 3.44
- Age: Approximately 10 billion years
- Constellation: Andromeda
The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred-spiral galaxy that is the closest large galaxy to our home in the Milky Way. There are actually several dozen smaller galaxies closer to us than Andromeda, yet Andromeda is often cited as being the closest due to its size.
Andromeda resides in the Andromeda constellation, located between Cassiopeia and the Great Square of Pegasus in the northern sky. At around 2.5 million light years from Earth, Andromeda is the most distant object that can be seen with the unaided eye.
Andromeda is thought to be on a collision course with the Milky Way, a merger that is expected to take place in about 4 billion years. Amazingly, there is so much space between stars that the odds of two stars colliding during this merger is almost zero. That truly blows my mind. There are thought to be between 100 and 400 billion stars in the Milky Way and 1 trillion stars in Andromeda and it is unlikely that any stars will collide. Just let that sink in for a second.
It is worth noting that all of the stars in this image belong to the Milky Way. Andromeda is too far away to resolve any individual stars. Also, guest appearing in this image are two dwarf galaxies, M32 to the left and M110 below Andromeda, from the perspective of this image.
This is my second attempt at Andromeda from my back yard. This is a target that is much better when captured under dark skies, a luxury that I unfortunately do not have. I hope to capture Andromeda from a dark site someday.
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