This is a photograph of the Andromeda
Galaxy (from one of the Palomar Mountain telescopes, I think). It is somewhat
larger than the Milky Way Galaxy, which we live in. The Milky Way looks much
different to us, because we are inside it. Return to my Astronomy/Space pages
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© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
This is a photograph of the Andromeda
Galaxy (from one of the Palomar Mountain telescopes, I think). It is somewhat
larger than the Milky Way Galaxy, which we live in. The Milky Way looks much
different to us, because we are inside it.
The Andromeda Galaxy is also called M31 or NGC 224. It is a spiral galaxy of type SbI. It is so close to us (about 2 million light years away) that it looks huge from here. Its angular diameter is about 7 times that of the full moon. So, why can't we see it without a telescope? The reason is that it is so faint. Through a small personal telescope, you still can see only the central region, as a smudge. The vivid photographs that you see are taken with a long exposure (and a very wide angle (low power), because of its large apparent size).
The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are part of the Local Group, which is the name for the cluster of galaxies that we are part of. The other members of this cluster are all tiny by comparison.