Posted on 06/25/2013 9:10:35 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda. Together these two galaxies dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The diffuse light from Andromeda is caused by the hundreds of billions of stars that compose it. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our Galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Andromeda is frequently referred to as M31 since it is the 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse sky objects. M31 is so distant it takes about two million years for light to reach us from there. Although visible without aid, the above image of M31 was taken with a small telescope. Much about M31 remains unknown, including how it acquired its unusual double-peaked center.
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[Credit & Copyright: Lorenzo Comolli]
If I ever have a daughter, I want to name her Andromeda.
There are lots of good astronomy related names.
yawn. they all look the same. ;)
quark is my favorite.
I was under the impression that she was 200 thousand light years away, not two million.
According to this wiki it is 2.5 million light years away.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are supposed to collide in about 3.75 billion years.
2.5 million or so, actually.
million, thousand....in light years. It makes no difference to us really.
Hopefully one day we can travel faster than light. But......I doubt it.
Callista is another one.
Of course, at 2.5 million ly away, it is very close on the scale of our own galaxy, which is 100 thousand ly across ... only 25 times our galactic diameter. The moon is 30 earth diameters distant from earth, which is comparable. In fact, the Andromeda Nebula appears much larger in the sky than the moon! However it is very faint, and only the core is visible to the naked eye.
“Thinking is the best way to travel” - The Moody Blues
been looking at that picture my whole life. nothings changed.
... except the picture!
have any idea when that picture was taken? I have some pretty old astronomy books and they all have that picture, Aloha from Maui
It’s just credited to “Hale Observatories”
The picture is best when combined with facts about the subject. millions of light years is an awesome distance
Are there any images which delete the milky way stars and you only see the Andromeda galaxy by itself?
is who I immediately think of.
Upside down
:)
A neat trick to pull on newcomers is to tell them you are going to show them Andromeda, but, actually show them the larger of the satellites, M32.
THEN show them the big guy. And it’s 2.5 Million LY away!
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