Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Andromeda (And)  ·  Contains:  32 And  ·  35 And  ·  35 nu. And  ·  Andromeda Galaxy  ·  HD2702  ·  HD2730  ·  HD2756  ·  HD2766  ·  HD2837  ·  HD2888  ·  HD2923  ·  HD2993  ·  HD3022  ·  HD3141  ·  HD3396  ·  HD3431  ·  HD3447  ·  HD3741  ·  HD3765  ·  HD3827  ·  HD3969  ·  HD4143  ·  HD4174  ·  HD4267  ·  HD4322  ·  HD4479  ·  HD4501  ·  HD4669  ·  HD4754  ·  HD4902  ·  And 15 more.
M31 - Andromeda Galaxy, Graham Conaty
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M31 - Andromeda Galaxy, Graham Conaty
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Description

The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31, is a barred spiral galaxy which lies at a distance of around 2.5 million light-years from Earth.

The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which itself is named after the princess who was the wife of Perseus in Greek mythology.

The virial mass of the Andromeda Galaxy is of the same order of magnitude as that of the Milky Way, at 1 trillion solar masses.

The Andromeda Galaxy has a diameter of about 152,000 light-years, making it the largest member of the 'Local Group' in terms of extension.

The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are expected to collide in around 4–5 billion years, merging to potentially form a giant elliptical galaxy or a large lenticular galaxy.

Captured from the backyard in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia this image comprises almost 12 hours of total integration using a combination of L,R,G and B filters with post-processing carried out using PixInsight, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.

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