Andromeda starfield. Optical image of stars in the constellation Andromeda, the princess. The bright star at centre is Mirach (Beta Andromedae), with Almach (Gamma Andromedae) in the top left corner. The nearby spiral galaxy M31 is seen as an elongated smudge at upper right. This galaxy is similar to our own Milky Way, but is around 50% larger. It lies around 2.3 million light years away.