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spiral galaxy

Triangulum Galaxy (M33)

A faint spiral; under really dark skies sharp eyes can just spot it.

Also called: M33, the Pinwheel of Triangulum.

🕒 When can I see it?🚀 Travel there
Triangulum Galaxy (M33) — Drawn, not photographed.

What it is

Third biggest galaxy in the Local Group, with patchy 'flocculent' spiral arms.

Spiral galaxy: A flat disc of stars wound into arms. Ours is one. Every kind of thing there is →

How to find the Triangulum Galaxy

Look in the constellation Triangulum.

It is best placed in the autumn if you are north of the equator.

Not well placed from the Southern Hemisphere.

Star-hop: Its light is spread over a wide area, so despite being close it needs a very dark sky and low power.

The Planetarium works out where it actually is from your own place and the date — including whether it is above the horizon at all tonight.

What you will really see

With binoculars

Binoculars show it as a small, soft, grey patch. Not the photograph — and unlike the photograph, it is arriving in your eyes right now.

Through a small telescope, on a good night

A faint fuzzy oval of soft light — the bright core shows; the arms only hint at themselves.

🔭 See it drawn as it looks through a telescope
🖨️ A sheet to print for this
🖨️ Print a sheet and go and look
🖨️ Sheet to take outside →

Worth knowing about the Triangulum Galaxy

On that same scale, the Triangulum Galaxy would be about 2.7 kilometers away. Light takes 2.7 million years to get here from the Triangulum Galaxy, so what you are looking at is the Triangulum Galaxy as it was 2.7 million years ago.

What it is made of
A spiral galaxy, the third biggest in the Local Group after Andromeda and the Milky Way; patchy, irregular 'flocculent' arms.
What makes it worth knowing
Contains NGC 604, a giant star-forming nursery roughly 40 times bigger than the Orion Nebula.
Its name and its story
Named for the ancient Greek constellation Triangulum — a simple three-star shape without a dramatic myth of its own.
How did anyone measure the Earth in the first place?
The numbers
Across578 000 000 000 000 000 km (578 000 000.0 billion)
Distance from us2.7 million light-years

How anyone knows this

Nobody flew a tape measure out there. Every number on this page was worked out from the ground:

Next to it

The Milky Wayspiral galaxyNaked eyeAndromeda Galaxy (M31)spiral galaxyNaked eyeBode's Galaxy (M81)spiral galaxyWith effortWhirlpool Galaxy (M51)spiral galaxyWith effortSombrero Galaxy (M104)spiral galaxyWith effortPinwheel Galaxy (M101)spiral galaxyWith effort
📖 How the galaxies fit together

Then go outside

Clear tonight? The Planetarium will show you what is worth a look. Then just go out.

🌙 Plan an evening outside🌌 Everything else in the sky