Are there galaxies (apart from our own milky way) that can be seen by the naked eye? if so, name one. if not explain?
2007-12-05 02:08:03 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The only one I have seen naked eye is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. It is roughly the size of the full moon, but it is dim, so it can only be seen on reasonably dark nights. There are others that apparently have been seen without a scope, but that is not my experience. It's not that they are too small and need magnification; they are too dim and need aperture (a large enough surface to gather sufficient light that such dim objects can be seen). This is the reason why telescopes have such large diameter openings.
2007-12-05 02:16:41 · answer #1 · answered by Larry454 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
From the southern hemisphere you can see the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, which are two irregular dwarf galaxies that appear as little detached parts of the Milky Way. But they can only be seen from the southern hemisphere. From the Northern hemisphere you can see the Andromeda galaxy, also known as M31, but you need a REALLY dark sky and you need to know just where to look. It looks like a little smudge of light a bit smaller than the Moon. The galaxy actually appears much larger than the Moon in our sky, but only the bright core can be seen by your unaided eye, and that is smaller that the Moon.
2007-12-05 02:23:53 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
From the northern hemisphere you can see the Andromeda Galaxy, M31. If you have *very* dark skies you can see M33 in Triangulum.
Southerners get the Magellanic Clouds. These also need dark skies, but from the bush they look like detached pieces of the Milky Way.
2007-12-05 04:29:46 · answer #3 · answered by laurahal42 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As others have stated, Andromeda can be seen, relatively easily. The Whirlpool Galaxy is another. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones that come to mind.
2007-12-05 03:56:58 · answer #4 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can see the Andromeda galaxy (M31) when I'm out at our place in Brimson where it's very dark and clear at night. It just looks like a faint fuzzy patch with the naked eye, though. Don't expect something like you see in photographs.
2007-12-05 02:18:17 · answer #5 · answered by Steve H 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, the Andromeda galaxy about 2.2 million light years away. You won't see it that well and the environment your around will have to be practically perfect to be able to see it (light pollution, altitude, azimuth, blah blah blah)
here's a picture of it:
http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/and1disk.jpg
If you get a telescope you can get a better look. Maybe something close to that, depending on the type of telescope.
2007-12-05 03:54:33 · answer #6 · answered by FUSE 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, there are galaxies that can be seen with our naked eye. One of them is Andromeda that can only be seen on a very clear and dark night. Otherwise there should be more of them only that they are too far and only appear as twinkling stars.
2007-12-05 02:35:41 · answer #7 · answered by Endeavour 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋