Andromeda Galaxy Imaged by Peter Campbell-Burns

Peter Campbell-Burns — By pcburns on September 26, 2009 at 11:55 pm

the Andromeda Galaxy (M31, also designated NGC 224) is the only extra-galactic object that is visible to the naked eye. The Persian scholar Abdal-Rahman Al Sufi was the first to make note of a “small cloud” in the constellation of Andromeda; it was rediscovered over 600 years later in 1612 by Simon Marius in Gunzenhausen, Germany. It is perhaps the best studied of all the galaxies – due to its proximity (approximately 2.5 million light years) and inclination. it is significantly larger than our own Mily Way galaxy – some 160,000 light years across but is thought to contain less mass.

Lookup M31 on SEDS

Also visible in this image are M110 and M32. M110 (also designated NGC 205) , a physical companion of M31 (to the right of M32), was discovered by Charles Messier in 1773 but not added to his famous catalogue. It was rediscovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783. It was finally added to the Messier Catalogue in 1966.

M32 (also designated NGC 221), also a physical companion, is an eliptical dwarf galaxy and is only 6,500 ly in diameter.

: Andromeda Galaxy (M31) – Click to Enlarge

This image was taken with a Takahashi FSQ106ED and QSI 583WSG CCD. The image comprises 10 frames x 120 seconds and 10 frames x 240 seconds stacked using Astroart.

The field centre (RA H:M:S, Dec D:M:S) is (00:42:37, +41:10:47.1). The field size is approximately 1.9 x 1.4 degrees.