The Milky Way's nearest neighbor in space is the spiral galaxy, Andromeda. It was first seen by the naked eye in 964 by a Persian astronomer, Abd Al-Rahman Al Sufi, who believed it to be a small cloud. It was first seen by a telescope in 1612 by Simon Marius.
   The Andromeda galaxy is approximately 1.5 times bigger than the Milky Way, presumably has more "dark matter" than our galaxy, and is named after the princess Andromeda, of Greek mythology. Its original name was Andromeda Nebula, and is also called Messier Object 31, M31, or NGC 224. At the center of rotation is the bulge, but unlike the Milky Way's, inside of that nebula, (a compact cloud of gas and stars), are two smaller bulges, each with there respective black holes.
   This galaxy is visible only on a truly dark night, and appears quite small, due to the fact that only the center part is bright enough to be seen. However, in the next 3 billion years, the amount seen of M31 to the plain eye will grow, due to the fact that it is hurtling towards the Milky Way at the speed of a flying bullet. When these two colossal star groups collide and form a new gigantic elliptical galaxy, it's a testament to the will of nature that extends far from our own earth; the universe is forever changing.

     Below is the image of the double bulge at the center of our nearest neighbor.