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The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, and is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, but not the closest galaxy overall. As it is visible from Earth as a faint smudge on a moonless night, it is one of the farthest objects visible to the naked eye, and can be seen even from urban areas with binoculars. It gets its name from the area of the sky in which it appears, the Andromeda constellation, which was named after the mythological princess Andromeda. Andromeda is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which consists of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies.
Paducah Skies Observatory is a private observatory SW of Paducah, TX. It sits on 45 acres of native Texas grasslands and mesquite trees. The skies are 21.99 on the light pollution scale (almost Bortle 1).
The image is available for sale at my Paducah Skies Observatory site:
https://paducahskiesobservatory.com/shop/ols/categories/andromeda-galaxy
Copyright 2009-2023 Robert Chozick