Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Lowell Observatory has chosen to feature the Andromeda Galaxy as Novembers celestial object. November and the winter skies are the best time to view this massive object with and without a telescope.
The Andromeda Galaxy is a massive spiral galaxy that sits just over 2.5 million light years away from the Milky Way. Andromeda was formed roughly 10 billion years ago and is home to approximately one trillion stars.
Although Andromeda is a stunning galaxy to observe there is one flaw. The Milky Way and Andromeda are set on a path to collide with each other in several billion years. This collision will be bringing the two most dominant galaxies in our local group together to form a massive elliptical galaxy. Although we don’t have to worry about this event happening in our lifetime, it is bound to happen and will cause some massive changes in the universe as we know it.
This galaxy is so large that it is one of the furthest objects away that can be seen with the naked eye. The best time to look for the Andromeda galaxy is during a moonless night where there is little light pollution.