The Virtual Amateur Astronomer®

The Virtual Amateur Astronomer^®, Image of the Andromeda Galaxy, Internet Astronomy by Jupiter Scientific

A Galaxy

You continue on "your journey through the Universe." You locate the box of the constellation Pegasus, "go back" two stars (Delta Andromedae and Beta Andromedae (Mirach)) in Andromeda (who is "riding on the back of Pegasus"), and then "up two stars". After moving the telescope around in the region for a while, you see a fuzzy elogated object. It is M31, the Andromeda galaxy:

Wow! Your first galaxy. The Andromeda galaxy is the closest spiral galaxy to Earth. It is about 2.5 million light years away. This means that it takes 2.5 million years for the light to travel from the galaxy to Earth. You are seeing "old light" and an image of the galaxy as it was 2.5 million years ago!

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