Subj : Daily APOD Report To : All From : Ben Ritchey Date : Mon Dec 17 2018 15:27:26 Astronomy Picture of the Day Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2018 December 17 [2] M31: The Andromeda Galaxy Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler [3] Explanation: What is the nearest major galaxy [4] to our own Milky Way Galaxy [5] ? Andromeda. In fact, our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda [6] . Together these two galaxies dominate the Local Group [7] of galaxies. The diffuse light from Andromeda [8] is caused by the hundreds of billions of star [9] s that compose it. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda [10] 's image are actually stars in our Galaxy [11] that are well in front of the background object. Andromeda [12] is frequently referred to as M31 since it is the 31st object [13] on Messier [14] 's list of diffuse sky objects. M31 [15] is so distant it takes about two million years for light to reach us from there. Although visible without aid [16] , the featured image [17] of M31 is a digital mosaic of 20 frames taken with a small telescope. Much about M31 remains unknown [18] , including exactly how long it will before it collides with our home galaxy [19] . Jump around the Universe: Random APOD Generator [20] Tomorrow's picture: bubble trouble? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- < [21] | Archive [22] | Submissions [23] | Index [24] | Search [25] | Calendar [26] | RSS [27] | Education [28] | About APOD [29] | Discuss [30] | > [31] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [32] (MTU [33] ) & Jerry Bonnell [34] (UMCP [35] ) NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [36] . NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [37] A service of: ASD [38] at NASA [39] / GSFC [40] & Michigan Tech. U. [41] ---------- Site notes: [1] archivepix.html [2] image/1812/m31_gendler_2700.jpg [3] http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/ [4] https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-are-galaxies [5] http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/rel_milkyway.html [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy [7] http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/localgr.html [8] ap180108.html [9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star [10] ap010917.html [11] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/ [12] http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0424.html [13] ap960626.html [14] http://messier.seds.org/xtra/history/biograph.html [15] ap020412.html [16] ap150817.html [17] http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/M31Page.html [18] https://youtu.be/U_ZHsk0-eF0?t=1587 [19] ap120604.html [20] http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html [21] ap181216.html [22] archivepix.html [23] lib/apsubmit2015.html [24] lib/aptree.html [25] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search [26] calendar/allyears.html [27] /apod.rss [28] lib/edlinks.html [29] lib/about_apod.html [30] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=181217 [31] ap181218.html [32] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html [33] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ [34] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html [35] http://www.astro.umd.edu/ [36] lib/about_apod.html#srapply [37] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html [38] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ [39] https://www.nasa.gov/ [40] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ [41] http://www.mtu.edu/ --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A40 (Windows/32) * Origin: FIDONet - The Positronium Repository (1:393/68) .