I'm a YEC. Challenge me.

[Cyberman]

OK well just for completeness and to feel I did my bit to help educate and all that:

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The nearest Galaxy to us is Andromeda. It happens to be the only one you can see with the naked eye on a clear night (you can use Google Sky Map to help you find it if you have a smartphone).

It also happens to be on a collision course with the Milky Way (our galaxy) - so much for design but that's not the issue here.

Anyway Andromeda is about 1.5 million Light years away (do I have to explain how we know that?)

Here's the thing.

If you believe, based on biblical accounts that the earth is 6,000 years old then I presume you believe the universe is of similar age.

So - how can we see Andromeda?

If the universe is only 6,000 years old the light from Andromeda shouldn't reach us for another 1,494,000 years, give or take a few.

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In the interest of accuracy, I should point out that M31, the so-called "Andromeda Galaxy" - so-called because it has satellite galaxies all its own bearing the names Andromeda I, II and III - while it is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, it's far from being our closest galactic neighbour. (Incidentally, M31 lies some 2.5 million LY distant, not 1.5.)

Our closest neighbour, if it actually exists, is the Canis Major Dwarf galaxy at some 25,000LY distance. The nearest confirmed galaxy at 60-70,000LY is the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical, which is thought to consist of some of the first stars to form in the Universe.

Between there and M31 there are some thirty or so known galaxies, including both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds known to the ancients; while many of the other were only discovered in recent years.

Everything else you say is spot on however.