00:00 On this day in space.
00:03 In 1612, the Andromeda Galaxy was seen through a telescope for the first time by a German astronomer named Simon Marius.
00:10 The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way, and it can be seen with the naked eye.
00:16 Early astronomers thought it was a nebula, or a glowing cloud of space dust.
00:20 Even after Simon Marius saw it through a telescope for the first time, he still couldn't tell that it was actually a galaxy filled with about a trillion stars.
00:28 It took another 300 years before Edwin Hubble came along and figured out that it was a galaxy.
00:34 And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:37 [ ♪ ]
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