November 14, 1999
The Earth has carried you around the Sun again, steady as ever, while the stars kept their patient watch.
M31: The Andromeda Galaxy
Birthday · November 14, 1999
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APOD published November 14, 1999. Credit: Jason Ware. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda. Together these two galaxies dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The diffuse light from Andromeda is caused by the hundreds of billions of stars that compose it. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our Galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Andromeda is frequently referred to as M31 since it is the 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse sky objects. M31 is so distant it takes about two million years for light to reach us from there. Much about M31 remains unknown, including why the center contains two nuclei.
Image credit: Jason Ware