... Pointy stars and peculiar galaxies span this cosmic snapshot, a telescopic view toward the well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. Bright enough to show off diffraction spikes, the stars are in the foreground of the scene, well within our own Milky Way. But the two prominent galaxies lie far beyond our own, some 41 million light-years distant. The Flare and the Galaxy . ... M31: The Andromeda Galaxy . ... What is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy? Andromeda. ...