22/10/11

Today I spotted the Andromeda galaxy in the sky. This is particularly interesting for several reasons. Firstly, it  is nearest galaxy to ours at 20 million light years away! People talk about light years all the time, but to put that into perspective, the entire galaxy could have been completely destroyed 1 million years ago, and we wouldn't see it happen for another million years. The picture we are seeing is from the same time as there were dinosaurs on the earth. At this massive distance, it is the furthest object away from earth which is visible with the naked eye. It is also interesting that our galaxy (the milky way) and Andromeda are heading towards each other and will almost defiantly collide...but don't worry, it's not for another 3 billion years.