The Andromeda galaxy is faint because of it's distance but it takes up more space in the sky than the moon, it doesn't just look like a star.

Because we are within our own galaxy we see it edge wise, basically a thick line of faint stars (due to distance).

Almost all the stars visible to the naked eye are within 1000 light years of earth. Our own galaxy is 100,000 light years across and Andromeda is bigger but it's ~2.5 million light years away.

When we see Andromeda with the naked eye we're just seeing it's bright nucleus. That's why it looks like a a star. If it were fully visible it would look like this. We could see it and it would be big and cool. But, unfortunately, things in space are actually very dim and if we were in a more densely packed corner of the universe we'd have the same problem most of the time. Even the Milky Way, which is huge and we live inside of, is only visible in dark areas away from cities.

In the Southern Hemisphere you can see with the unaided eye the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, the Small & Large Megellanic Clouds.

I think Andromeda is getting closer to us. So if you live for a few hundred million years, you would have a pretty fantastic night view.

Thank you this question! You’ve given rise to many other questions in my mind.

Hello u/Careful_Swordfish742, your submission "Theoretically, could we see another giant galaxy in our sky if…" has been removed from r/space because:

• Such questions should be asked in the "All space questions" thread stickied at the top of the sub.

Please read the rules in the sidebar and check r/space for duplicate submissions before posting. If you have any questions about this removal please message the r/space moderators. Thank you.