The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31, is a spiral galaxy about 220,000 light years in diameter (more than twice as large as our Milky Way, at 100,000 light years), and approximately 2.5 million light years from Earth. It is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way, and is a member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes M33, the Pinwheel Galaxy.
The bright fuzzy spot toward the left is Messier 32, a dwarf galaxy that orbits the Andromeda Galaxy. As small as it appears compared to M31, M32 actually is about 8,000 light years in diameter.
The Andromeda Galaxy is too large to fit on my camera's sensor, so I made this two-panel mosaic. It shows more of M31's end detail than the first mosaic because the panels in this one join end-to-end, making it wider but not as tall.
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Processing Reprocessed February 15, 2021 |
• With PixInsight: ☞ Calibrate, star-align, and integrate subframes ☞ Reduce background noise ☞ Process for high-dynamic range ☞ Gradient-merge mosaic • Final tweaking in Photoshop CS6 |
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| Date and Location |
• October 28, 2019 • Louisa County, Virginia, USA |
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Equipment |
• TMB-130SS APO refractor @ f/7 on an A-P 1200 mount • ZWO ASI-1600MC Pro color camera • Imaging and autoguiding with MaxIm DL 6.20 • Automated image acquisition with ACP Observatory Control |
Updated May 23, 2023