B The configuration of galaxies in space

[PainterGuy]

TL;DR Summary

How to find the alignments for different galaxies in sky? If they are horizontally aligned, vertically aligned, or skewed or tilted when viewed from Earth.

Hi,

In the picture below, M is Milky Way Galaxy in red, both A's are Andromeda Galaxy in positions P1 and P2 , and W is some random galaxy.

Milky Way Galaxy lie in one plane just like all the planets in solar system. In what configuration Andromeda Galaxy lies? Does it lie almost at the same level as Milky Way Galaxy? For example, the W galaxy lies in almost in the same plane as Milky Way. Does Andromeda lie in position P1 up above the Milky Way but its plane alignment is the same as Milky Way? Or, does Andromeda lie in position P2 where it's aligned along z-axis?

Wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy, does give the coordinates, capture at the bottom, for it but I don't know how to interpret celestial coordinates, and if celestial coordinates convey any info about its alignment.

 

[PeroK]

You could search for information and images of the "local group of galaxies".

 

[Bandersnatch]

For nearby galaxies PeroK's suggestion would be the easiest and most intuitive.

If you want to picture any galaxy in general, you can go to a database of extragalactic objects, such as this one: https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/ and search for the name of the object (common name, designation in Messier, NGC, anything should do). Keep in mind the database queries may take a few seconds to process.
It'll display a set of data, including galactic coordinates (latitude and longitude). Galactic coordinates allow for easy picturing where in relation to the plane of the Milky Way does any object lie.
The longitude (l) and latitude (b) are measured like so:

With galactic north being towards the constellation of Coma Berenices and 90 deg longitude in the direction of the Sun's orbital motion through the galaxy, roughly towards the star Deneb.

E.g. for Andromeda the database returns l=121 b=-22 so it's a bit below the plane and a bit away from the galactic centre.

Another visualisation option is to use a planetarium software (e.g. Celestia), and find galactic coordinate grid in the display options before searching for the object.
Or, of course, going out at night and finding where the object lies w/r to the band of the Milky Way (i.e. its plane) and its centre in Sagittarius.How much an object is oriented edge-on or face-on can usually be readily seen from the pictures.

 

[PainterGuy]

You could search for information and images of the "local group of galaxies".

I did try to search for some images but it didn't make much sense and wanted to get a general idea to know the orientation and alignment of a galactic plane.

I think the following image comes close to it. One can Andromeda from Earth and its center is also visible,

Source: https://ourplnt.com/andromeda-brighter/

 

[Bandersnatch]

We were thinking something more like this: