Håvard's Observatory

Facts

The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years (2.4×10¹⁹ km) from Earth in the Andromeda constellation. Also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, it is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest spiral galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy, but not the closest galaxy overall. It gets its name from the area of the sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which was named after the mythological princess Andromeda. The Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which also contains the Milky Way, the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies. Although the largest, the Andromeda Galaxy may not be the most massive, as recent findings suggest that the Milky Way contains more dark matter and could be the most massive in the grouping. The 2006 observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that M31 contains one trillion (10¹²) stars: at least twice the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy, which is estimated to be 200–400 billion. The two galaxies are expected to collide in 3.75 billion years, eventually merging to form a giant elliptical galaxy.

At an apparent magnitude of 3.4, the Andromeda Galaxy is one of the brightest Messier objects, making it visible to the naked eye on moonless nights even when viewed from areas with moderate light pollution. Although it appears more than six times as wide as the full Moon when photographed through a largertelescope, only the brighter central region is visible to the naked eye or when viewed using binoculars or a small telescope. (Wikipedia)

Object: M31 Andromeda Galaxy and C/2011 L4 Pan-STARRS
Date: 03.04.2013
Time: 23:00
Location: Sollihøgda, Bærum, NO
Camera: DSLR Canon EOS 7D
Optics: Canon 300mm f4,0
Exposure: 21 x 120 sec
20 x bias
20 x flatframes
ISO: 320
Guiding: PHD
Post processing: DSS, Photoshop CS5

Object: M31 Andromeda Galaxy
Date: 12.01.2013
Location: Sollihøgda, Bærum, NO
Camera: DSLR Canon EOS 7D
Optics: Canon 300mm f5,6
Exposure: 10 x 5 min lightframes
Guiding: “Lodestar” og PHD Guiding
Post processing: DSS, Photoshop CS5

Object: M31 Andromeda Galaxy
Date: 15.09.2012
Location: Sollihøgda, Bærum, NO
Camera: DSLR Canon EOS 7D
Optics: Celestron SCT 8″
1260mm f6,3
Exposure: 3 x 5 min lightframes 5 x 5 min darkframes
ISO: 1600
Guiding: Celestron NexGuide
Post processing: DSS, Photoshop CS5