An interesting question: if you look up in the Earth’s sky with the naked eye, assuming you have a healthy vision, how far away can you see? Could you see beyond the Milky Way galaxy, for example?

Andromeda Galaxy is the farthest object in the sky that we can see with the naked eye. It is approximately 2.5 million light-years (770 kiloparsecs) from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way.

So, you can see 2.5 million light-years away if you look in the sky with the naked eye.

2.5 million light-years distance is equivalent to about 23.65 billion trillion kilometers (2.36×1022 km) or 14.7 billion trillion miles (1.47×1022 mi).

1 billion trillions = 1 sextillion

Andromeda's actual size if it was brighter
How far away can you see if you look up in the night sky? Andromeda Galaxy is the farthest object in the sky that we can see with the naked eye. But if you don’t know where to look, you won’t notice it. But if it were much brighter, its appearance in the sky would be sensational. The moon is a good reference to what we’d see in the image above.
Andromeda and the Moon

Related: If Andromeda Galaxy were brighter, this is what we’d see

Milky Way and trees at night

Related: How many stars one can see with the naked eye?

Sources

  • No Stupid Questions: How far away can you see when you look in the sky? on Reddit
  • Andromeda Galaxy on Wikipedia
M. Özgür Nevres
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