https://www.britannica.com/place/Milky-Way-Galaxy
> … For centuries astronomers regarded the Andromeda Galaxy as a component of the Milky Way Galaxy—i.e., as a so-called spiral nebula much like other glowing masses of gas within the local galactic system (hence the misnomer Andromeda Nebula). Only in the 1920s did the American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble determine conclusively that the Andromeda was in fact a separate galaxy beyond the Milky Way.
annoyed_freelancer on
The widespread dissemination of knowledge about galaxies being, well, galaxies, and not nebula, only happened in the 1940’s and 1950’s. I have an astronomy guidebook from 1948 that speculates about the “Andromeda Nebula” being something else, and [this](https://curtiswrightmaps.com/product/the-amoco-map-of-space-mysteries/) on my living room wall from 1958 with the clearly labelled “Andromeda Nebula”.
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https://www.britannica.com/place/Milky-Way-Galaxy
> … For centuries astronomers regarded the Andromeda Galaxy as a component of the Milky Way Galaxy—i.e., as a so-called spiral nebula much like other glowing masses of gas within the local galactic system (hence the misnomer Andromeda Nebula). Only in the 1920s did the American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble determine conclusively that the Andromeda was in fact a separate galaxy beyond the Milky Way.
The widespread dissemination of knowledge about galaxies being, well, galaxies, and not nebula, only happened in the 1940’s and 1950’s. I have an astronomy guidebook from 1948 that speculates about the “Andromeda Nebula” being something else, and [this](https://curtiswrightmaps.com/product/the-amoco-map-of-space-mysteries/) on my living room wall from 1958 with the clearly labelled “Andromeda Nebula”.