Andromeda Galaxy
M31 / NGC 224
The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest neighboring galaxy, a mere 2.5 million light-years away. It is the only galaxy visible to the naked eye - but just barely. The galaxy is made up of around 1 trillion stars.
2022
This was our first attempt after the rebuild and relocation of our equipment.
Our new home. The nearby lights and buildings are not ideal, but the sky is Bortle 3.
Technical details
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Telescope | Skywatcher Esprit 100ED (f/5.5) |
| Filter | Astrodon LRGB Gen2 E-Series |
| Coma corrector | - |
| Field flattener | Skywatcher Esprit (1x) |
| Camera | QHYCCD 268m, -5°C, Mode 1, Gain 56, Offset 30 |
| Resolution | 3408x2047 (cropped & scaled 50%) |
| Light frames | R: 6 (300s) |
| G: 6 (300s) | |
| B: 6 (300s) | |
| 1h30m total | |
| Flat frames | 16 each (3s, per channel brightness) |
| Darkflat frames | 32 |
| Dark frames | - |
| Bias frames | - |
| Location | Kalkalpen Nationalpark, Austria |
| Local time | 2022-09-22 21:50 - 23:58 |
| Field of View | 2°25' x 1°37' (rotation -67°) |
| Image Center | 0h42m48s +41°16'17 |
The corners show problems with the backfocus which we will attempt to fix next time.
2020
Weather was nice (13°C, relative humidity 71%) and we were able to use 45 of the 48 frames we shot. In the picture there are also two satellite (“dwarf”) galaxies of Andromeda. To the left is M32 (NGC 221) and to the bottom right is M110 (NGC 205). There are even some extragalactic nebulae visible (brighter red/blue regions).
Technical details
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Telescope | Skywatcher 200PDS (200/1000 Newton) |
| Filter | IDAS D2 (multi-bandpass light pollution filter) |
| Coma corrector | Skywatcher f/5 |
| Field flattener | - |
| Camera | Canon 7D Mark II |
| Resolution | 1297 x 850 (scaled & cropped) |
| Light frames | 45/48, 300s @ ISO 400, 3h45m in total |
| Flat frames | 12 |
| Darkflat frames | - |
| Dark frames | 12 |
| Bias frames | 14 |
| Location | Bolton, UK |
| Local time | 2020-09-20 23:50 - 04:41 |
| Field of View | |
| Image Center |
2008
Over the years we have made several attempts at imaging the Andromeda Galaxy. The following picture is one our firsts, from 2008:
Technical details
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Telescope | Skywatcher 200/1000 Newton ('07 version) |
| Filter | |
| Coma corrector | - |
| Field flattener | - |
| Camera | Canon 400D |
| Resolution | 3888 x 2592 (cropped & scaled to 1932x1245) |
| Light frames | 3 (25s @ ISO 400) |
| 3 (50s @ ISO 400) | |
| 1:45m total | |
| Flat frames | - |
| Darkflat frames | - |
| Dark frames | - |
| Bias frames | 87 |
| Location | Dorog, Hungary |
| Local time | 2008-12-28 22:47:42 - 23:01:51 |
| Field of View | |
| Image Center |