M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy
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Date: 11th November 2007
Equipment:: Canon 400D with a Tamron 500mm F8 mirror lens piggy backed on the Celestron Nexstar.
Exposure: 3 x 5 minute subs at ISO1600.
Processing: Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in PixInsight.
Comments: This was my first attempt at astrophotography with just a camera lens. The Andromeda Galaxy is just too large for many telescopes as its roughly four times the width of the full moon in the sky, so a 500mm lens was needed. I managed to borrow one from Simon Cuthbert....many thanks Simon! The small galaxy near the bottom of the image is M101 and the small galaxy tucked in close to Andromeda but just above it is M32. All are part of our local cluster of galaxies. And Andromeda is moving towards our galaxy on course for a collision in about 3 billion years.
Credits: Many thanks to Bill Scott for loan of his Celestron Nexstar telescope and to Simon Cuthbert for loan of his Tamron 500mm F8 lens.