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Andromeda is the nearest major
galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Our Galaxy is thought to look much
like Andromeda. Together these two galaxies dominate the Local Group
of galaxies.
The diffuse light from Andromeda
is caused by the hundreds of billions of stars that compose it. The
several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually
stars in our Galaxy that are well in front of the background object.
Andromeda is frequently referred
to as M31 since it is the 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse sky
objects. M31 is so distant it takes about two million years for light
to reach us from there. Much about M31 remains unknown, including why
the center contains two nuclei.