The nearest large galaxy to our own. An immense, island universe of stars, gas and dust. Recent estimates place it about 2.5 million light years away. It is blue shifted, and moving towards us. It will eventually collide with the Milky Way billions of years from now. M31 contains a trillion stars, based on the Spitzer telescope data.

Takahashi CCA-250 Astrograph Telescope with an ST11000/Astrodon filters/F3.6.LRGB(67/5minBW ,9/5min2x2 bin RGB.