On Dec. 15, 1612, the Andromeda galaxy was seen through a telescope for the first time by a German astronomer named Simon Marius.
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.
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.
00:03In 1612, the Andromeda Galaxy was seen through a telescope for the first time
00:08by a German astronomer named Simon Marius.
00:11The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way
00:14and it can be seen with the naked eye.
00:16Early astronomers thought it was a nebula or a glowing cloud of space dust.
00:21Even after Simon Marius saw it through a telescope for the first time,
00:24he still couldn't tell that it was actually a galaxy filled with about a trillion stars.
00:29It took another 300 years before Edwin Hubble came along
00:32and figured out that it was a galaxy.
00:34And that's what happened on this day in space.