Andromeda galaxy where is it in the sky

A low power shows the galaxy off best. Imagine a diagonal from the southwest to northeast corner lower-right to upper-left as seen from the UK , and extend it for about the same distance again to reach mag. The Andromeda Galaxy is a staggering 23 billion billion km away.

When you consider that most of the stars we see are just tens or hundreds of lightyears away, the distance to the Andromeda Galaxy becomes phenomenal.

This is about the farthest thing in the Universe that you can see using just your eyes. Another amazing aspect becomes apparent when you photograph the Andromeda Galaxy : its enormous extent in the sky, spanning then width of six full Moons side-by-side.

Take our tour of the Andromeda Galaxy below with your telescope and discover its most intriguing sights. The Andromeda Galaxy and our own are the two most massive systems in a Local Group of around 30 galaxies. But while our Galaxy has up to billion stars, Andromeda is thought to contain a trillion.

Download a PDF guide to help you take the Andromeda tour. Start your journey into M31 by looking for the dark dust lane that runs along the northwest edge of the core. Look for the faint glow of the spiral arms beyond this lane.

This glow continues toward another dark lane located further out. Notice also how the central region fades inwards towards a star-like core. This mag. Like M31, the core of M32 appears almost stellar in nature, but larger apertures will reveal it as an extended region about arcseconds across. If you have any feedback, please get in contact. Object Name Messier Constellation Andromeda.

See also rise and set times. Given its visual magnitude of 3. Celestial coordinates and finder charts of Messier Rise ans set times of Messier 31 from your location.

Magnitude B Blue, nm 4. Magnitude V Visual, nm 3. Using the height of the W as a measure, go three W heights in the direction the arrow head points, and you will be close to the Galaxy. With a binocular and a dark sky, Andromeda will appear like a small pale puff of smoke, slightly elongated. The second path to Andromeda requires a bit more star knowledge, but will get you more precisely to the right spot. This path starts with the Great Square of Pegasus lower right in the chart.

This large square of second magnitude stars is high in the southern sky on October evenings. Sprouting from the upper left corner of the Square are two chains of stars which make up the constellation Andromeda.

The brighter of these chains starts at Alpheratz Alpha Andromeda, the upper left corner of the Square and moves to the left to encompass Delta Andromedae, Mirach, and Almach. That will put you exactly on the position of the Andromeda Galaxy. Practice these paths several times with binoculars, and then repeat the one which works best for you using the finder of your telescope. With your lowest power eyepiece in place, sweep the area carefully until you detect the faint glow of the Galaxy.

It may take several attempts until you can see the Andromeda Galaxy, since our eyes are not used to looking at such faint objects.

Patience is the key to finding deep sky objects. You may not succeed on your first night out, if so, try again the next clear night. Once you get the hang of it, finding Andromeda will become something that you can do with ease every night, and impress your friends and family.