Andromeda Galaxy

giant spiral · our nearest big neighbour · M31

2.54 million light-years from Earth

A trillion stars 2.5 million light-years away, the most distant thing most people can see without a telescope. It is falling toward us at 110 km/s and will merge with the Milky Way in about 4.5 billion years.

• 2.5 million light-years: you see it as it was when our ancestors first made stone tools
• ~220,000 light-years across, about twice the Milky Way

kind

galaxy

catalogue

M31 · NGC 224