In the image below, two M objects (M31 and M33), both spiral galaxies, are being compared within the same telescopic shot. This is a very difficult image to take because of the large field of view required to capture both galaxies. These two galaxies are 14 degrees apart in the night sky and are part of the Local Group, the same group of galaxies to which our Milky Way belongs. The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33; also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy) are two of the three largest galaxies in the Local Group (the Milky Way being the third) among several dozen dwarf galaxies. The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light-years away while the Triangulum Galaxy is 3 million light-years away, however despite their large distance apart, both galaxies are locked in gravitational orbit around each other. Astronomers have made predictions that some billions of years in the future, the three largest galaxies of the Local Group (The Milky Way, M33, M31) will undergo close encounters with each other which may signal a merging. The bright spot in the center of the image is the bright star, Mirach found in the Milky Way in the constellation Andromeda. Mirach is a red giant star, a cooler, but larger version of our Sun.
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