Constellation: Andromeda
Distance: 2.5 Million light years
Magnitude: 4.4 
Actual Size: 200,000 light years across
Visual Size: 190 x 60 arcminutes
Other Designations:NGC 224
Our nearest large Galaxy neighbour. This Galaxy is 2.5 million light years away, and yet it is so bright we can see it with the naked eye. The largest member of the 'local group' of galaxies including the Milky Way, Messier 33 the Triangulum galaxy and about 30 others. Surveys have indicated that the Andromeda Galaxy contains approximately 1 trillion stars, vastly exceeding the number of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Andromeda appears as 6 times as wide as the full moon when imaged when photographed through a large telescope. To the naked eye, only the central core is visible.