Andromeda & Casseopeia

By: GreenWitchAdmin
Posted: 7th July 2015

The Night Sky in February/March, when I sit and look at the clear night sky, I get completely overwhelmed with what I see and what it actually means. It can be quite mindblowing when you consider that the planets in our Solar System plus the stars in the Milky Way make up our spiral Galaxy.

Yet, along from Casseopeia (more on that), with the naked eye if you still have 20/20 vision (or a pair of binoculars if your eyes have become naff like mine!!), you can see the Andromeda galaxy. Andromeda is a spiral galaxy, just like our own Milky Way, and is known as M31. It contains over a trillion, yes, a trillion stars and is located over 2.5 million light years away…wow!!

Casseopeia appears to us in the Northern sky and is recognised by its “W” shape, which is formed by 5 bright stars so very easy to find, and from there, you can find Andromeda from the bottom of the rightmost “V” which forms a convenient arrow to show you where it is – just follow the point! When you can see a dull cigar shaped cloud, you are seeing the results that left Andromeda over 2 million years ago…like I said, mindblowing!! On a moonless night, have a hunt for Casseopeia, then find Andromeda and be completely blown away, knowing you are looking at that many stars that far away, just with your eyes!! A-ma-zing…

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