Galaxy
Andromeda Galaxy
Spiral galaxy (SA(s)b) · M31
Our giant galactic neighbour
The nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way, containing roughly a trillion stars. Under dark skies it appears as an elongated smudge — light that left it before modern humans existed.
In your sky
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Key facts
Distance
~2.5 million light-years
Diameter
~152,000 light-years
Apparent mag.
+3.4
Stars
~1 trillion
Did you know
- It is approaching us at about 110 km/s.
- It will merge with the Milky Way in roughly 4–5 billion years.
- Edwin Hubble used its Cepheid stars to prove galaxies lie beyond the Milky Way (1925).
