M31

The Andromeda galaxy is the most massive in our local group, of which we are a part. Very large, it is heading towards us and should hit our Milky Way in about four billion years.

This galaxy is a group of 300 billion stars and is located 2.5 million light-years from us, making it our closest neighbor. Very bright and large, it is visible to the naked eye on sufficiently dark summer nights. It then appears as a milky spot in the sky nearly 6 times larger than the full moon.

The image, captured in color, was made by creating a mosaic of four panels. Indeed, its impressive size prevents it from fitting into a shot and it took four combined photographs to fit into the frame. Mosaic creation is common in astrophotography and we devoted lesson #13 to this process.

It was long considered to be a nebula because of its appearance until the 1920s when its definitively galactic nature was recognized by astronomers.

You can find this astrophotography for purchase in our dedicated category in order to print it at home and offer it to your loved ones or display it in your home.

Equipment used:
- Skywatcher 80ed Evostar
- ZWO 533mc pro
- ZWO 120mm mini
- EQM-35 Pro
- Asiair plus
- EFW
- EAF
- OAG
- Stacked with Siril and PixInsight
- Processed with PixInsight
- Finished with Lightroom