Andromeda Galaxy Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy (), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, is a spiral galaxy approximately 780 kiloparsecs (2.5 million light-years) from Earth, and the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. Its name stems from the area of the sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda. The 2006 observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that the Andromeda Galaxy contains approximately one trillion stars, more than twice the number of the Milky Way's estimated 200 to 400 billion stars. The Andromeda Galaxy's mass is estimated to be around 1.76 times that of the
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film) in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, and a journalist working on the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", a universal guide book, and that the Earth is to be demolished later that day by a race called Vogons, to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Suddenly, a Vogon Constructor Fleet appears in the sky and destroys the planet. Ford saves himself and Arthur by stowing away on a Vogon ship. When discovered, they are thrown out of an airlock, but are picked up by the starship Heart of Gold. They find Ford's "semi-cousin" Zaphod Beeblebrox, the President of the Galaxy. He has