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| M-31 Andromeda Galaxy |
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This is our neighbor and sister galaxy, the Great Andromeda Galaxy. In about 5 billion years our Milky Way Galaxy and Andromeda will begin to collide and merge. Andromeda is the only galaxy that is big and bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye. At 2.5 million light years away, it is the furthest object that can be seen with the unaided eye. With binoculars it's a "There it is!!" moment when you spot it between Cassiopeia and the Great Square of Pegasus. The individual stars that can be seen in this picture are actually the foreground stars of our own Milky Way. With the most powerful telescopes, the biggest and brightest stars in Andromeda can be resolved, but at 2.5 million light years distance, stars like our sun are many many times too small and faint to be seen. What we see is the diffuse collective glow of the estimated 100 billion of stars in Andromeda. There are 2 baby or satellite galaxies that are considered part of Andromeda. They are known as M32 (sometimes named the Andromeda Nebula) and M110. M32 is the bright fuzzy ball to the lower left of Andromeda's central core. M110 is the larger and more diffuse elliptical galaxy to the lower right. Eventually these two will become part of Andromeda. It is thought that large galaxies like Andromeda and our Milky Way grew as big as they are by the absorption and incorporation of many smaller galaxies, some of them like those you see here. Andromeda can be found from late August to early April, but the best time to look for it is in the eastern sky of autumn. Look to the Northeast and find Cassiopeia, the "W" in the Milky way. Look to the right and find the 4 bright stars that form the Great Square of Pegasus. Take the left hand corner star of the great square and count 2 bright stars back toward Cassiopeia, "star" number 3 is Andromeda. If you have any question whether you've spotted it, check it out with binoculars, it will then be unmistakable. Hope you find it :-) |
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4" F5 refractor telescope
piggybacked on a LX200 Meade scope tracking scope,
Camera
Canon 300D at prime focus |