The Andromeda Galaxy | HD Space Pictures

The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31 is a spiral galaxy approximately 780 kiloparsecs (2.5 million light-years) from Earth. It is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way and was often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts.

It received its name from the area of the sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which was named after the mythological princess Andromeda.

Josh Blash captured this image of the Andromeda galaxy in July, 2014