- Object Information:
- Name - Messier 31, The Andromeda Galaxy
- Constellation - Andromeda
- Distance - approximately 2,000,000 light years
- The Andromeda Galaxy is a naked eye object at moderately dark locations. It can easily be seen with binoculars as a bright fuzzy patch between the constellations Cassiopeia and Pegasus. At a distance of 2 million light years, the Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest large spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way. This galaxy is thought to be very similar in size and shape to the Milky Way. It is approximately 150,000 light years in diameter with a mass of approximately 200-300 billion suns.
- The two companion galaxies of M31 can also be seen in this photograph. M32 is the white smudge just above the plane of the galaxy and to the left of center. M32 is estimated to be approximately 6,000 light years in diameter. M110 can be seen directly below M31. Both are elliptical galaxies and are gravitationally bound to M31.
- Imaged at:
- Mt. Laguna, San Diego County, California
- Equipment:
- Optics - Takahashi Epsilon 160 f/3.3 astrograph
- Mount - Astro-Physics AP 1200 GTO
- Camera - SBIG STL-11000 M
- Exposure Information:
- September 19, 2009
- RGB image - 1.5 hours per color channel
All images Copyright © by Dean Jacobsen, 2009
Use of any image contained within this web site without the prior written consent of the author is strictly prohibited.
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Use of any image contained within this web site without the prior written consent of the author is strictly prohibited.
Contact Dean at Webmaster for more information.