APOD: M31- The Andromeda Galaxy

This beautiful picture is the Andromeda Galaxy in the constellation Andromeda. M31 is the closest galaxy that can be seen with the naked eye. In fact M31 with our own galaxy are the main ones in the Local Group of Galaxies. The Local Group is the name of the group of galaxies our own Milky Way is in. M31 is a spiral galaxy, but in its center it has two nuclei. The second nuclei could be the remnants of a galaxy that was "eaten" by Andromeda. Other than the unusual center, our own Milky Way is thought to look like M31, though the Andromeda Galaxy is much bigger. It is over 65000 light years across and 2 million light years away. The stars around the galaxy in the picture are actually stars in our galaxy.