This galaxy is also designated as M31, a Messier catalogued object, and as NGC 224. It is the largest galaxy in the "local group" of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way and about 30 other smaller galaxies. It has a diameter about twice that of our Milky Way and is, like the Milky Way, a spiral galaxy. It has considerably more stars than the Milky Way, having about a TRILLION stars! It is located about 2.5 million light years from the Milky Way but getting closer by the second, as the two galaxies are approaching each other at about 80 miles per second; with an expected collision in about 2.5 billion years. It has been photographed heavily (including mine :>) since first being photographed in 1887. Being a long duration photo, it showed the spiral structure for the first time. It is visible with the unaided eye at a reasonably dark site.


Dates Taken: December 14 and 16, 2004
Location: Denton, Texas
Telescope: Orion 80ED f/7.5 FL 600mm
Guiding: St-4 thru C8 at f/6.3 FL 1280mm
Mount: Takahashi EM-10
Camera: Canon 300D @ Prime Focus
Camera Control and Focusing: Images Plus (IP)
Exposures: 16 x 4 minutes (Dec. 14); 17 x 4 minutes (Dec. 16) All at ISO 1600
Processing: Raw converted to TIFFs in IP
Calibrated with Adaptive Darks in IP
Translated and Rotated in IP
Aligned and Average Combined in IP
Digital Development, Levels, and Cropped and Resized in IP
Used Photoshop Elements for Gradient Work and Lasso Tool for Area Levels
Conditions: Mag 3-4; 6/10 Seeing; 7/10 Transparency
Ambient Temps: Dec 14 - 28* F; Dec 16 - 40* F