[skm583]

What are the distance between the glaxies and earth

[Curlyben]

Something more specific would be good, otherwise you are basically asking "How many grains of sand are there on the beach"!!

[Capuchin]

The closest is about 25,000 light years from us. The farthest detected is about 13,000,000,000 light years from us. So take your pick anywhere between those numbers I guess :)

Hard question to answer - but it sure gives you a sense of scale!

[ebaines]

It's like asking "what is the distance between New York City and countries?" Don't forget that earth and the solar system are part of a galaxy known as the Milky Way - so the closest galaxy is actually right here! The next closest major galaxy is Andromeda, which is about 2.5 million light years away and is a spiral galaxy much like our own. There are a couple of dwarf galaxies that are much closer, and smaller, but these are actually considered to be part of the Milky Way itself, so there is some dispute whether these should be called galaxies in their own right. See:

Closest Galaxy to the Milky Way

[Capuchin]

It's like asking "what is the distance between New York City and countries?" Don't forget that earth and the solar system are part of a galaxy known as the Milky Way - so the closest galaxy is actually right here! The next closest major galaxy is Andromeda, which is about 2.5 million light years away and is a spiral galaxy much like our own. There are a couple of dwarf galaxies that are much closer, and smaller, but these are actually considered to be part of the Milky Way itself, so there is some dispute whether these should be called galaxies in their own right. See:

Closest Galaxy to the Milky Way

Thanks for the correction :)

[Glaisne]

The Earth is part of the Milky Way Galaxy which is part of a cluster of galaxies called the Local Group. This is one of many of clusters of galaxies in the universe. Other members of the Local Group include the Andromeda Galaxy, which is about as large as the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a much smaller dwarf galaxy, and the Small Magellanic Cloud an even smaller galaxy. There are over 30 other galaxies in the Local Group.

The Andromeda Galaxy is is about 2.9 million light-years away and The Large Magellanic Cloud is about 179,000 light-years away, and the Small Magellanic Cloud is about 210,000 light-years away. There are many other galaxies much much further away.

[Glaisne]

Bye the way, one light year equals 5,878,625,373,184 miles or about 6 trillion miles. So multiply the above light year distances by 6 trillion to get an estimated distance in miles.