Late October presents a perfect opportunity to spot the ancient light of the Andromeda galaxy as it climbs high overhead to brighten the autumn night sky.

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbor, sits approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. It can be found rising in the east at sunset before drifting high overhead at midnight and transitioning to the northwestern sky as dawn approaches.

Andromeda's vast spiral arms span an incredible 260,000 light-years across and play host to over a trillion stars, all orbiting a supermassive black hole embedded in the galactic core, which glows with the light of ancient red stellar bodies.

Andromeda is easily visible to the naked eye from a dark sky location, taking the form of a h

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