Just learned that the Andromeda Galaxy is actually bigger in our sky than the moon

I read it in an old astronomy textbook from the library, but you obviously can't see it that way because it's so dim. Has anyone else stumbled on a fact that makes you look up differently?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel_rivera1mo ago

Honestly, that's one of those facts that just shifts your whole perspective once it sinks in. @oliviac22 I get what you're saying about not seeing it, but I've noticed this pattern in everyday life too, like how all the light pollution in cities blocks out the stars, but they're still there. It's kinda like how you can't see the air conditioning blowing, but you know it's moving things around because you feel the draft. There's so much going on around us that our senses just can't pick up on, and once you start noticing that gap, it makes you wonder what else we're missing.

oliviac222mo ago

Okay but like, you can't actually see it. So does that fact even matter in a real way?

jamieburns2mo ago

Yeah oliviac22 has a point about seeing it, but that fact still messes with my head. I read that if our eyes were better at picking up faint light, the Andromeda galaxy would look like a huge smoky smear across the sky, way bigger than the moon. It makes you feel tiny, but also connected. Like we're just a small part of this huge thing hanging right over us that we can't even see properly.