Explanation: What is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy? Andromeda. In fact, our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda. Together these two galaxies dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The diffuse light from Andromeda is caused by the hundreds of billions of stars that compose it. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our Galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Andromeda is frequently referred to as M31 since it is the 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse sky objects. M31 is so distant it takes about two million years for light to reach us from there. Although visible without aid, the above image of M31 is a digital mosaic of 20 frames taken with a small telescope. Much about M31 remains unknown, including exactly how long it will before it collides with our home galaxy.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: spiral galaxy - Tumannost' Andromedy Publikacii so slovami: spiral galaxy - Tumannost' Andromedy
Sm. takzhe: NGC 300: galaktika iz zvezd NGC 206 i zvezdnye oblaka Andromedy Spiral'naya galaktika s peremychkoi NGC 1365 ot teleskopa "Dzheims Vebb" Spiral'naya galaktika NGC 6744 M106: spiral'naya galaktika so strannym yadrom M31: galaktika Andromedy NGC 247 s druz'yami Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>