At 2.25 million light years away, Messier 31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) is usually regarded as the furthest object visible to the unaided human eye. However, some people have reported seeing Bode's Galaxy (12 million light years away) under exceptionally dark skies.
M31 is the closest galaxy to ours and, in fact, the two are on a collision course! In 4-5 billion years, they will merge together, eventually forming a large eliiptical or lenticular galaxy. Collisions between stars are very unlikely as the space between them is very large. However, the collision is likely to start a round of intense star birth. Night skies will likely be spectacular, from the right viewing points. M31 is home to about 1 trillion stars and is physically larger (but has about the same mass) as our galaxy. This image was created from 50 x 90s integrations with the RASA 8 telescope.
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