As you look up into the sky at night, you can see a few thousand stars. All the stars that you see individually are relatively close to us, all less than a couple of thousand light years away. On clear, dark night at certain times of the year you can see a few nebulae and star clusters with the unaided eye. But even these are all pretty close.

The Andromeda Galaxy, M31, however, is easily found with the unaided eye at this time of year and for the next several months, in the evening skies. The Andromeda Galaxy is over 2 million light year away, and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way.

M31 rises before 7 pm and is 1/3 the way up the northeastern sky by 10:30 pm, MDT.

There are several methods for finding M31. Here is just one: Most people can locate the Big Dipper, and use the Big Dipper to find the North Star. The two stars in the end of the cup of the dipper point to the North Star. Let's use the innermost of the three handle stars of the dipper to find Andromeda. Draw a line from this star through the North Star, and continue that line a little more than twice the distance between them. You will run into the 'W' shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, the Queen. The top of the 'W' shape points back to the North Star. You have covered just under 70° of sky in this trip. Another 20° in the same direction and you will run into M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy looks like a very dim and small smudge of light. It is much better in binoculars or a telescope. But you are looking at the furthest object visible to the unaided eye, 2.5 million light years away.

• Feb 20 -- Lunar eclipse visible from western USA.
• 1/29; 7/9; 9/21; 11/12 -- These events may appear on calendars as occurring on the following date due to the time of the event occurring near midnight. Therefore, time zone changes will result in date changes.
• Aug 1 -- Total solar eclipse visible from Siberia, Mongolia, China. NASA map here.
• Aug 16 -- Partial lunar eclipse not visible from the US.
• Aug 1 & 30 -- Two New Moon events in the same month.

Data about bright passes of the International Space Station can be found on our Night Sky Calendar.

Click the "Night Sky Calendar" link above to see calendar information on the Moon, seasons, and other interesting events.