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The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It was originally named the Andromeda Nebula and is cataloged as Messier 31, M31, and NGC 224.
- 3.167° × 1°
- (1.5±0.5)×10¹² M☉
- ~1 trillion (10¹²)
Apr 27, 2024 · Andromeda Galaxy, great spiral galaxy in the constellation Andromeda, the nearest large galaxy. It is one of the few visible to the unaided eye, appearing as a milky blur. The Andromeda Galaxy is located about 2,480,000 light-years from Earth, and its diameter is approximately 200,000 light-years.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- How to See Andromeda in The Night Sky
- Colliding Galaxies
- A Possible Exoplanet
- Andromeda and The Great Debate
- Addtional Resources
Andromeda is visible to the naked eye but only when viewed in dark skies and ideally on a moonless night. In many places, it is visible the entire year for at least part of the night but is highest in the sky and therefore easiest to spot in August and September, according to EarthSky. There are several ways to find Andromeda. One of the easiest is...
Andromeda and the Milky Way are slowly drifting towards each other, leading scientists to conclude that they will likely collide about 4.5 billion years from now, according to a 2019 study. The two galaxies will most likely form a giant elliptical,or oval, galaxy, according to NASA. It's not clear what might happen to our planet and solar system du...
In 1999, scientists noticed a minute change in Andromeda known as a microlensing event, which they called PA-99-N2. Gravitational lensing happens when something extremely massive, like a large galaxy, bends the light of a far more distant background object behind it, sometimes creating multiple distorted images of that object. With microlensing, a ...
In the 1920s, the distant galaxy became part of the Great Debate between American astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis. At the time, astronomers thought the Milky Way composed the whole universe, and the strange patches such as Andromeda (known as "nebulas" at the time) lay inside of them. Curtis had spotted various novas in Andromeda and ar...
Explore the Andromeda galaxy in incredible detail with this zoomable image from the Hubble space telescope. If you're interested in photographing the Andromeda galaxy, AstroBackyard has some useful resources on the equipment you'd need. Astronomy.com answers an interesting question "If the universe is expanding, why will the Milky Way and Andromeda...
Sep 12, 2023 · Learn how to find and observe the nearest large spiral galaxy to our Milky Way, also known as Messier 31. See stunning images of Andromeda from EarthSky community and discover its history and future collision with our galaxy.
See the largest and sharpest image ever taken of the Andromeda galaxy, also known as M31, by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This image shows over 100 million stars and thousands of star clusters in a section of the galaxy's disc.
Oct 23, 2023 · See the largest Hubble mosaic of M31, our nearest major galactic neighbor, with over 100 million stars and star clusters. Learn how Hubble reveals the structure and evolution of this spiral galaxy and its stellar populations.
See the sharpest image ever of our galactic next-door neighbor, Andromeda (M31), taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Explore over 100 million stars, star clusters, dust lanes, and colors in this stunning mosaic of a spiral galaxy.
