QUESTION #551

What is the Andromeda Galaxy distance from the Sun?

Asked by: Karen Anderson

Answer

Andromeda (M31) GalaxyThe Andromeda galaxy is about 2.9 million light years away from us. If you would ask whether this is measured from the sun or the earth the answer is that it does not matter. The reason is that the earth-sun distance is about 8 light minutes as compared to 2.9 million light years! Also, it turns out Andromeda is frequently referred to as M31 since it is the 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse sky objects. This might be useful if you were to perform any search on the web or astronomical databases.
Answered by: Yasar Safkan, Ph.D., Software Engineer, Noktalar A.S., Istanbul, Turkey