Is Andromeda Really the Nearest Galaxy to the Milky Way?

[shounakbhatta]

Hello,

Whenever I read over net or search over some pictures of galaxies, the Andromeda galaxy pops up in the list as first and some resources mention it to be the nearest galaxy to our Milky Way.

Wikipedia suggests Canis Major Dwarf as the nearest: 0.025 mly.

It is always in picture or otherwise that Andromeda comes first.

Is there any reason for that?

 

[Bandersnatch]

Andromeda is the nearest "proper" galaxy, i.e. not a tiny "dwarf galaxy" satellite of the Milky Way, of which there are a few, all much closer than Andromeda.
It's good to remember that it is to a large extent an arbitrary distinction.