Login « Sidebar
Home » Galaxies » M31

M31

The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: /ænˈdrɒmədə/, also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224; often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts) is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way. As it is visible as a faint smudge on a moonless night, it is one of the farthest objects visible to the naked eye, and can be seen with binoculars even in urban areas.
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. Although the largest, it may not be the most massive, as recent findings suggest that the Milky Way contains more dark matter and may be the most massive in the grouping. However, recent observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that M31 contains one trillion (1012) stars, greatly exceeding the number of stars in our own galaxy. 2006 estimates put the mass of the Milky Way to be ~80% of the mass of Andromeda, which is estimated to be 7.1×1011 solar masses.
At an apparent magnitude of 4.4, the Andromeda Galaxy is notable for being one of the brightest Messier objects, making it easily visible to the naked eye even when viewed from areas with moderate light pollution. It appears quite small without a telescope because only the central part is bright enough to be visible, but the full angular diameter of the galaxy is seven times that of the full moon. (Text from WikiPedia)

Date: 12/05/2008
Size: 3 items
M31 Widefield

M31 Widefield

Date: 12/05/2008
Views: 3681
Keywords: TeleVue NP127 SBIG STL-11000
M31 100% Crop

M31 100% Crop

Date: 12/05/2008
Views: 2971
Keywords: TeleVue NP127 SBIG STL-11000
RCOS 12.5" To The Core!

RCOS 12.5" To The Core!

Date: 01/18/2011
Views: 2939

Actions

Advanced Search
Mount with WebDAV RSS Feed for this Album View Slideshow View Slideshow (Fullscreen)

Galaxies

1. M31 2. Hercules... 3. M63-Lum 4. NGC 5033 5. M81 & M82 6. NGC-3628 7. M63 -... ... 14. Makarian's ...

Random Image

0Y5W9894.jpg

Powered by Gallery v2.3 All images copyright 2007,2008 Chris Johnson