Andromeda galaxy as it appears in Al-Sufi's 'Fixed Stars Catalogue'

In 964, the Persian astronomer 'Abd al-Rahman Al-Sufi wrote his famous 'Book of Fixed Stars', in which he gave Arabic names to stars in the 48 classical constellations, discussing the stars' positions, sizes and colours. He was the first astronomer to mention the Andromeda Galaxy, Earth's closest neighbour, calling it "little cloud."