Mountain skies	by Leslie Young

Last August, I invited you to lie on your backs on a warm summer night and enjoy the expanse of the Milky Way, our very own galaxy.  Now I invite you to crane your necks on a winter night to peer at the Milky Way's twin, the Andromeda galaxy. 

With the right landmarks, you can see the Andromeda galaxy with your naked eye on a dark night. Begin with the large constellations of Casseopeia and the Great Square of Pegasus (directly overhead at ~7 PM midmonth). It's easier to find if you scan the area between Cassiopeia and Pegasus with binoculars until you find the "fuzzy" galaxy (my tiny 8x20 binoculars are good enough).

FIG 1

From the Great Square of Pegasus, you can follow the fainter stars off of the Northeast corner to find the Andromeda galaxy. 

FIG 2

The Andromeda galaxy is fuzzy because it's a collection of hundreds of billions of stars, like our own galaxy. It's about 2 billion lightyears away, so the light we see left the Andromeda galaxy 2 billion years ago. At this distance, its the farthest thing you can see with your naked eye.