Photograph
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
The nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, located about 2.5 million light-years from Earth. Like our own galaxy, it contains hundreds of billions of stars, vast clouds of gas and dust, and numerous star clusters.
Beyond the frame
Every bright point in this image belongs to our own Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy itself begins only beyond those foreground stars, appearing as a vast and distant island of stars. Its light has travelled for about 2.5 million years before reaching Earth, meaning we see the galaxy as it was long before modern humans existed. When you look at its bright core and sweeping spiral arms, you are literally looking back in time at a galaxy remarkably similar to our own.