About this Object:
The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2,500,000 light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way, but not the closest galaxy overall. Andromeda is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which consists of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies.

About this Photo:

Location: From my driveway in Georgetown, Texas
Telescope: ED80 @ F7.5
Mount: HEQ-5
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider / Orion ST80
Camera: Nikon D80 Exposure: 28 x 300 sec @ ISO 1600 (2 hrs 20 min.)
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 3.75 Camera Control
Processing: ImagesPlus 3.75 – Darks,Flats,Bias
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS3; Gradient Exterminator; Noise Ninja; Noel Carboni's Tools;
Reprocessed in 2011
Date(s): Sept 11, 2009
Temperature(s): 70º F