M31 Andromeda Galaxy "Neighbor of a Grand Design"

Astronomy Magazine POD 20th FEB 2013

Drifting through the cosmos a mere two and a half million light-years distant, the Andromeda Galaxy is the most voluminous of the galaxies in the Local Group, which includes our own Milky Way galaxy. Visible to the unaided eye in a dark location, the central core can be seen as a tiny smudge. In a moderate telescope, M31 can be seen with its two largest satellite galaxies; M32 and M110.

Located in its namesake constellation, Andromeda contains roughly a trillion stars not including the 14 known satellite galaxies gravitationally bound to it.

Visible in this photograph are the dusty lanes of stellar debris visible as the dark bands. The remnants of stellar deaths, this material will be recycled into new stars and planets as gravitational forces compress the matter within the chaotic environment.

M31 and our own Milky Way Galaxy are on a collision course. Expected to collide in roughly four and a half billion years, it should certainly provide a spectacular show for anyone around to witness its approach.

Unless you look closely you probably won't notice the "subtle" difference between this and my previous LRGB image www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/7870322924/in/photostream. This version includes the H-Alpha filter shoot that highlights the HII Regions and nebulae within the Andromeda Galaxy, some of which are larger than the Great Orion Nebula within our very own Milky Way Galaxy.

The image consists of 2 minute combined with 5 and 10 minute exposures for the luminance, 5 and 10 minute exposures for the RGB, 15 minute exposures with QHY9C one shot color CCD and finally 20 minute exposures using H-Alpha filter with QHY9M monochrome CCD Camera.

Clear Skies
Terry

Image Information
Location: DownUnder Observatory, Fremont MI
Date of Shoot August 13, 21, 22 and 23 2012
Exposures:
QHY9M mono CCD
Luminance
18 x 10 min
23 x 5 min
26 x 2 min
RGB 6 x 5 min
9 x 10 min
26 x 2 min
23 x 5 min
18 x 10 min
H-Alpha 11 x 20 min
QHY9C
13 x 15 min
all sub exposures un binned.

Camera: QHY9M monochrome CCD & QHY9C one shot color CCD, cooled to -30C www.astrofactors.com
StarlightXpress Color Filter Wheel
Scope: Thomas M. Back TMB 92SS F5.5 APO Refractor www.astronomics.com
Astro Tech AT2FF Field Flattener
For guiding: StarlightXpress Lodestar autoguider, StarlightXpress Ultra Slim Off Axis guider
Paramount GT-1100S German Equatorial Mount (with MKS 4000)
Image Aquisition software Nebulosity II for OSC and Maxim DL for mono CCD
Stacking software Deep Sky Stacker for OSC and CCDStack for mono CCD
Registration of images in Registar
Post Processing Photoshop CS5

Taken in: United States / Michigan / Bridgeton (show map)

Taken on: August 27, 2012

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Sets appears in: • The Andromeda Galaxy • Galaxies

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