What is the nearest galaxy to our own and how far away is it?
There are two nearer dwarf galaxies than the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, both discovered fairly recently, But the answer really depends on if you mean large galaxies of comparable size to the Milky Way or dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. Large galaxies: Andromeda Galaxy (barred spiral galaxy) (M31) and Triangulum Galaxy (spiral galaxy) (M33) are the two nearest. M31 is larger than the Milky Way and M33 is smaller. M31 is at a distance of 2.52±0.14 million light years away, Recent observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that M31 contains one trillion (10^12) stars, greatly exceeding the number of stars in our own galaxy. It has a radius of 69,600 ± 3,900 light years. M33 is only minimally further away at a distance 2.59 million light years and has a radius of 27,000 light years. It is of about average size, compared to most spiral galaxies in the universe. All three are members of The Local Group. This is the name given to the group of galaxies that includes ou
