06. How far away is the next galaxy? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

The Andromeda Galaxy, which is the closest large galaxy to Earth, is about 2.9 million light years away. Andromeda and the Milky Way are heading toward each other and will collide in about three billion years! But the closest galaxy to us was only recently discovered, in November 2003, and is called the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy. It lies in the direction of the winter constellation Canis Major (the Big Dog) and is about 25,000 light years from our solar system, or about 42,000 light years from the actual center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy was found by an international team of astronomers as part of the Two-Micron All Sky Survey. This special survey uses infrared light to peer into areas of the night sky that were previously hidden by the bright light of our own Milky Way Galaxy.

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Answer provided by Jim Zebrowski

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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