<P> In 2005, astronomers discovered a completely new type of star cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy . The new - found clusters contain hundreds of thousands of stars, a similar number of stars that can be found in globular clusters . What distinguishes them from the globular clusters is that they are much larger--several hundred light - years across--and hundreds of times less dense . The distances between the stars are, therefore, much greater within the newly discovered extended clusters . </P> <P> In 2012, a microquasar, a radio burst emanating from a smaller black hole, was detected in the Andromeda Galaxy . The progenitor black hole is located near the galactic center and has about 10 M ⊙ (\ displaystyle (\ begin (smallmatrix) M_ (\ odot) \ end (smallmatrix))). Discovered through a data collected by the European Space Agency's XMM - Newton probe, and subsequently observed by NASA's Swift Gamma - Ray Burst Mission and Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Very Large Array, and the Very Long Baseline Array, the microquasar was the first observed within the Andromeda Galaxy and the first outside of the Milky Way Galaxy . </P> <P> Like the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy has satellite galaxies, consisting of 14 known dwarf galaxies . The best known and most readily observed satellite galaxies are M32 and M110 . Based on current evidence, it appears that M32 underwent a close encounter with the Andromeda Galaxy in the past . M32 may once have been a larger galaxy that had its stellar disk removed by M31, and underwent a sharp increase of star formation in the core region, which lasted until the relatively recent past . </P> <P> M110 also appears to be interacting with the Andromeda Galaxy, and astronomers have found in the halo of the latter a stream of metal - rich stars that appear to have been stripped from these satellite galaxies . M110 does contain a dusty lane, which may indicate recent or ongoing star formation . </P>

Who measured the distance to the andromeda galaxy to be over a million light years