Our galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda. Together, these two galaxies dominate the Local Group of galaxies. Andromeda is composed of hundreds of billions of stars. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Andromeda is frequently referred to as M31, and it is so distant it takes about 2 million years for light from it to reach us.

Here is the file: 
n10c-n-EGGNEB_2TN.jpg Courtesy 
of NASA at http://www.nasa.gov

    This image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in January 1996, shows a pair of mysterious "searchlight" beams emerging from a hidden star, crisscrossed by numerous bright arcs. Referred to as the Egg Nebula, or CRL2688, it is located roughly 3,000 light-years from Earth. 
 Image: Raghvendra Sahai and John Trauger (JPL), the WFPC2 science team, and NASA

Here is the file: n10f-n-whirlpool-galaxy-0110aTN.jpg
Courtesy of NASA 
at http://www.nasa.gov

Here is the file: n10g-n-hourglass-nebTN.jpg
Courtesy of NASA at http://www.nasa.gov

The Hourglass Nebula is a planetary nebula. When a star such as the Sun starts to die it becomes red and expands into a giant star. The old star will eventually eject its outer layers. The gaseous shell is illuminated by the dense stellar core, which is now exposed. We see the illuminated gas as a planetary nebula. 
 Image: Raghvendra Sahai and John Trauger (JPL), the WFPC2 science team, and NASA 

Here is the file: n10h-n-twisters-9638bTN.jpg
Courtesy of NASA at http://www.nasa.gov

An image of the interstellar "twisters" in the heart of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8), which lies 5,000 light_years away in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. 
 Image: NASA 

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