M31 — The Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda (M31) is the closest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, roughly 2.5 million light-years away, and the most distant object most people can see with the unaided eye. Its disc spans several times the width of the full Moon on the sky, which is why a wide field is needed to frame it. The two fuzzy companions are its dwarf elliptical satellites: M32, the compact knot close to the disc, and M110, the larger diffuse glow. The dark lanes crossing the spiral arms are clouds of interstellar dust silhouetted against the starlight behind them.

Photographed together with M. Baki Bayram.