OTD in Space - December 15: Andromeda Galaxy Spotted by Telescope for the 1st Time - video Dailymotion

Space.com

On Dec. 15, 1612, the Andromeda galaxy was seen through a telescope for the first time by a German astronomer named Simon Marius. [‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com]  The Andromeda galaxy is the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way, and it can be seen with the naked eye. Early astronomers thought it was a nebula, or a glowing cloud of space dust. 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. It took another three hundred years before Edwin Hubble came along and figured out that it was a galaxy.

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00:00On this day in space. In 1612, the Andromeda galaxy was seen through a

00:06telescope for the first time by a German astronomer named Simon Marius. The

00:11Andromeda galaxy is the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way and it can be

00:14seen with the naked eye. Early astronomers thought it was a nebula or a

00:18glowing cloud of space dust. Even after Simon Marius saw it through a telescope

00:23for the first time, he still couldn't tell that it was actually a galaxy filled

00:26with about a trillion stars. It took another 300 years before Edwin

00:31Hubble came along and figured out that it was a galaxy. And that's what happened on

00:35this day in space.

OTD in Space - December 15: Andromeda Galaxy Spotted by Telescope for the 1st Time

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