The Andromeda Galaxy
The Sun and Moon are both pretty close to us on
Earth. What about the more distant objects? Think about the furthest
thing you have ever looked at, perhaps a church a few miles away.
The Andromeda Galaxy - many light years away
from Earth |
The Moon is roughly 240,000 miles away. But would
it surprise you if you can see even further than that?
On a really dark night, you can see an object that
lies 13 million, million, million miles away. It's so far away that
it takes light over
2 million years to get here, so we see it today as it was before
humans walked on the Earth!
On your bike, it would take 1 thousand million
million years to cycle there! This object is called the Andromeda
Galaxy.
Tto see this object called the Andromeda Galaxy,
take a look at the map below and ask a responsible adult that you
know to take you outside and see if you can spot it.
It's very faint so you will need to get away from
street lights. Good luck!
If you want to find out more about space or want
to have a look through a telescope, then contact the Norwich Astronomical
Society.
Contact details and information about their public
events including a Children's Astronomy afternoon can be found on
their website at
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