Carlos is looking toward the constellation Andromeda with a small telescope and sees a bright white point of light and a fuzzy oval of light. Which statement about Carlos's observations is true?

Question

Carlos is looking toward the constellation Andromeda with a small telescope and sees a bright white point of light and a fuzzy oval of light. Which statement about Carlos's observations is true?
A.
 
The white point of light is part of the Milky Way.
B.
 
The fuzzy oval is an individual star; the point of light is a galaxy.
C.
 
The fuzzy oval is the Milky Way.
D.
 
The white point of light is an individual star; the fuzzy oval is a galaxy.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The correct statement about Carlos's observations is:

D. The white point of light is an individual star; the fuzzy oval is a galaxy.

In the constellation Andromeda, the bright white point of light that Carlos sees is likely an individual star within our Milky Way galaxy, while the fuzzy oval of light is the Andromeda Galaxy, which appears as a diffuse object because it is a collection of billions of stars and other material.