Seeing the Andromeda Galaxy

Pegasus and Cassiopeia

While out under the night sky I frequently point out that everything we can see with the naked eye is located in our home galaxy, the Milky Way. The thousands of stars that shine in a dark night sky are, relatively speaking, local stars in our own galaxy. The Milky Way is vast, stretching 100,000 light years from end to end. To see anything beyond our own galaxy means we are seeing well past 100,000 light years.

The Andromeda Galaxy is a neighboring galaxy in our 'Local Group' and is the nearest fully-formed galaxy. Despite its size (about 50% larger than our own Milky Way galaxy) and overall brightness, it is located 2.2 million light years away so it is an object that only under very good conditions can be glimpsed by the naked eye, but even then is challenging to spot and is best viewed with some magnification. My preference is to find Andromeda with binoculars and in the winter it is a good target because it is located directly overhead. With warm clothes and a comfortable blanket or pad, you can lie on your pack and look up with binoculars, and with some attention and focus you can see beyond our galaxy into Andromeda.

The Andromeda Galaxy

My way to find the galaxy is to look between on the Great Square of Pegasus and Cassiopeia, finding the galaxy in the space between the two. The first image (above) shows the overall proximity of the Andromeda constellation between Pegasus and Cassiopeia. The second image (right) shows a more close up view for pointing your binoculars. As you search this part of the sky under reasonably dark conditions you will be able to see the glow of Andromeda come into view in your binoculars.

Images courtesy of Sky Safari.