Figure 13-21 Andromeda (M31) Andromeda is a beautiful spiral galaxy and the only galaxy easily visible to the naked eye from Earth’s northern hemisphere. It has dim, red giant stars (not visible here) extending half a million light-years from its nucleus. Without a telescope, Andromeda appears to be a fuzzy blob in the constellation of the same name. Located only 2.5 Mly (0.77 Mpc) from us, Andromeda is gravitationally bound to the Milky Way, and it covers an area in the sky roughly 5 times as large as the full Moon. Two other galaxies, M32 and M110, are also labeled on this photograph. The points of light that pepper the image are stars in our Galaxy.