Andromeda Galaxy

've heard about the Andromeda Galaxy in science classes throughout elementary school and middle school, but I never really thought about it beyond that. When I looked on the Harvard MicroObservatory website, I was really interested to learn more about it, and I hope you enjoy what I learned!
Andromeda Galaxy, or M31, is our galaxy's closest neighbor, and this neighbor of ours is actually heading towards us on a collision course (Redd). Andromeda galaxy is like our galaxy in that it is also a spiral galaxy; it's spiral is approximately 260,000 light years long with a bulge in the middle (Redd).  Despite this being two and a half times longer than the Milky Way and having more stars, the Milky Way is said to be more dense because scientists believe it has more dark matter (Redd).  Although first identified by Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi in 964, Charles Messier named it as "M31" in 1764 and incorrectly credited the discovery to a German astronomer who was the first to observe the galaxy using a telescope (Redd).

Works Cited

Redd, Nola Taylor. "Andromeda Galaxy (M31): Location, Characteristics & Images.

Space.com."Space.com. N.p., 8 May 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/17/15

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/17/15

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/17/15