The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It was originally named
the Andromeda Nebula. Andromeda has a D25 isophotal diameter of about 46.56 kiloparsecs (152,000 light-years) and is
approximately 765 kpc (2.5 million light-years) from Earth. The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in
which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which itself is named after the princess who was the wife of Perseus
in Greek mythology.1