Despite its nondescript appearance, this bland light mass is actually the cause of much mischief for its larger neighbor, the famous Andromeda Galaxy (M31), around which it revolves. Easily visible from Earth through a small telescope, the dwarf elliptical galaxy M32 is about 6,000 light years across and contains roughly 2 billion starsΓÇöthatΓÇÖs less than .5 percent the mass of Andromeda. Even so, M32ΓÇÖs gravity has considerably distorted Andromeda. Andromeda, on the other hand, appears to have stripped M32 of much of its gas and many of its stars.
