NGC 7331 — The Milky Way’s Twin
Captured with: Seestar S50 Smart Telescope
Distance: ~40 million light-years
Constellation: Pegasus
Type: Spiral Galaxy (SA(s)b)
Apparent Size: ~10 × 4 arcminutes
NGC 7331 is a grand spiral galaxy viewed slightly tilted from edge-on, giving it a vivid three-dimensional depth in photographs. With a diameter of nearly 100,000 light-years, it closely resembles our own Milky Way in both structure and stellar population. The bright, yellowish central bulge and sweeping dust lanes mark it as a mature spiral rich in both young and old stars.
Through the Seestar S50, the galaxy appears as a glowing spindle floating in the dark, with its faint spiral arms and central core standing out against the starry background. Surrounding it are several smaller galaxies — distant background systems known collectively as the Deer Lick Group, though they lie far beyond NGC 7331 itself.
Astronomers consider NGC 7331 a local analogue to the Milky Way, offering an external view of what our own galaxy might look like from afar. The light reaching your telescope began its journey when early hominins first walked the Earth, carrying across tens of millions of years the story of a galaxy not so different from our own.
NGC 7331 reminds us that even in the immensity of space, we can glimpse echoes of home among the stars.