This image shows the Andromeda and two satellite galaxies: Messier 32 (M32), the blue dot just above Andromeda, to the left and centre; and Messier 110 (M11), the hazy blue oval below the central spiral of Andromeda. The image was taken by NASA; JPL-Caltech University of California, Los Angeles.  Andromeda is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It is categorized at Messier 31, M31, and NGC 224. It has a diameter of 152 000 light years, and is 2.5 million light years from Earth.  Messier 32 is a dwarf "early-type" galaxy about 2 490 000 light years from the Sol Solar System. It is a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy and was discovered by Guillaume Le Gentil in 1749. It has a radius of 330 light-years.  Messier 110 is a dwarf elliptical galaxy that is also a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy. Charles Messier first saw the object in 1773. It was also independently discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783, and her brother William He...