Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2020

20 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2020 SPACE CHRONICLES Hubble maps a giant halo around the Andromeda galaxy by NASA/ESA A t a distance of 2.5 million light-years, the majestic spiral Andromeda galaxy it is so close to us that it appears as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky. If its gaseous halo could be seen with the naked eye, it would be about three times the width of the Big Dipper − eas- ily the biggest feature on the nighttime sky. [NASA, ESA, J. DePasquale and E. Wheatley (STScI) and Z. Levay]