A Large Spiral Galaxy, NGC 7331, In All Its Splendor
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 20:28
in Astronomy & Space
The spiral galaxy NGC 7331, in Pegasus, can be seen with small telescopes under dark skies as a faint fuzzy spot. It is an island universe similar to our own Galaxy (or maybe somewhat larger) and placed at a distance of 50 million light-years. NGC 7331 was discovered by Wilhelm Herschel in 1784, and it shows all its magnificence in long-exposure photographs taken through large telescopes.