Andromeda

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 diffused 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 (Andromeda) 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.