Universal Lens

This image of M31, The Andromeda Galaxy, is a combination of my original "close-up" of M31, along with a stack of 40 "wide-field" images taken from my backyard.

This is the final image of M31, The Andromeda Galaxy, processed from a stack of 123 frames.

Andromeda, our closest galactic neighbor, is the furthest thing a human being can see with their naked eye.  When viewing this object, the light that hits your eye left Andromeda 2,538,000 years ago.

In approximately 4,000,000,000 years, this galaxy will collide with our Milky Way Galaxy, with no two stars from either galaxy ever merging.