Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy is famous because it is the farthest object from Earth in space that can be seen with the naked eye. It is seen in the northern hemisphere in the Andromeda Constellation.  It is a spiral galaxy, like our galaxy the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.2 million light years away from Earth. It is 1.5 times larger than the Milky Way and has about 400 billion stars. The Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way are both part of the Local Group. The Local Group is a giant cluster of about thirty galaxies. The Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy in the Local Group.

For many years people thought that the Andromeda Galaxy was a nebula, a cloud of interstellar gases. The creation of strong telescopes changed that long held opinion. Astronomers discovered that the Andromeda Galaxy has a nucleus of red giant stars and swirling arms that have dark and bright nebulas. It also has two small satellite galaxies.

In 1885 an amazing thing happened. A supernova could be seen with the naked eye in the Andromeda Galaxy. It had a star shaped point of light that was as bright as all the other stars in the galaxy put together.  The Andromeda Galaxy continues to thrill us today.