M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy

20:53 17/8/2005 UTC

This time clouds did not interrupt me as they did two nights before. The transparency was good, the only bad thing was a moon hanging low in horizon making background sky brighter. Everything else was good, I collected over an hour of exposure and that really helped with fainter outer parts of the galaxy. This is a center cropped and slightly scaled down version of the original. I think I am happy now with the M31 and its time to move on to next target! There are several globular clusters visible in this image, take a look at my detailed M31 page .

NGC/IC Object List:
NGC224 galaxy RA:00h42m44.3 Dec:+41°16m'08" BMag: 4.3, M 31 Andromeda Galaxy
NGC221 galaxy RA:00h42m41.8 Dec:+40°51m'57" BMag: 9.1, M 32
NGC205 galaxy RA:00h40m22.1 Dec:+41°41m'07" BMag: 8.9, M 110
NGC206 open cluster RA:00h40m32.3 Dec:+40°44m'18" BMag: ,

Camera: Canon EOS 350D (Rebel XT) | Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 66mm f6 petzval refractor | Mount: Orion Skyview Pro, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: - | Guiding: Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Phillips ToUCam Pro II webcam, Qastrocam, Orion Shorty Plus 2x Barlow | Exposure: 17 x 240s (1h8m) f6 ISO400 | Software: IRIS, GIMP | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI) | Image Field: 2.115 x 1.587 degrees | Image Center: Ra 00h42m48s Dec +41°18'10" | Target altitude in the beginning of the exposure 47°