Tag: Messier31

M31 Andromeda galaxy

After capturing many clusters I wanted to switch to more interesting objects, which would test the quality of the skies on Milos, therefore I slewed my portable newton telescope to probably the most famous galaxy – Andromeda. During the post-processing I was astonished how many details were revealed after such short integration time. I would not be able to capture such picture from home, even if I would use any light pollution filters and much longer integration time.

Brief description of the galaxy: Andromeda is our galactic neighbor and it is approximately 2.5 million light-year from Earth, but it is approaching (110 km/s). There are estimates that our Milky Way and Andromeda will collide, but we still have some time, because it should occur in 4.5 billion years. Andromeda has diameter 220 thousand light-years, which makes it twice bigger than our own galaxy Milky Way. Two clouds surrounding the main galaxy are dwarf galaxies M32 and M110.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length660 mm
MountiOptron CEM25P
AutoguidingQHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure18x180s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date2018-09-05

M31 Andromeda galaxy

Andromeda galaxy is the closed galaxy of our home – Milky Way galaxy. The diameter of Andromeda is approximately 220,000 light years; which is twice more than has Milky Way. It’s only 2.5 million lights away and it’s getting closer. The collision with the Milky Way is predicted to happen in approximately 4 billion years.

This DSO is one of the brightest and the biggest, which makes it relatively easy to photograph. This is actually my second attempt of Andromeda galaxy. One year ago with DSLR camera the picture was not looking so great, therefore I was waiting a year and here is the result:

M31 Andromeda galaxy