A very nice edge on galaxy in the constellation of Andromeda, very near the globular cluster M3. Spiral galaxies seen edge on like this highlight the dust and debris that lie in a disk around their core. Face on galaxies that reside in front of larger background galaxies reveal that galaxies have a dark dusty disk that extends well beyond the bright parts we see and photograph. C23 is probably what our own Milky Way galaxy would look like. C23 is about 30 million light years away, and is part of the NGC 1023 group of galaxies, which in turn is part of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies. The Virgo Supercluster is the supercluster of galaxies that contains our Local Group of galaxies which contains our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The Supercluster contains about 100 clusters of galaxies, and is about 200 million light years in diameter. Our Local Group is located near the edge. The entire Virgo Supercluster is being pulled toward a gravitational anomaly known as the Great Attractor. And finally the entire visible cosmos, which is only a portion of an infinite cosmos, seems to be moving northwesterly toward perhaps an even more massive something.

10" F6.3 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope with a coma corrector. Hutech light pollution filter Modified Canon 40D camera at prime focus
10 photos, each with 800 sec exposure at ISO 1600
Photos were aligned and averaged together, then brightness and contrast enhanced