This is not the first time i photograph this beautiful Galaxy and most definitely it's not the last..
M31 is one of the most impressive deep space objects of the nightsky...
M31 is one of the most impressive deep space objects of the nightsky...
(for a higher or full resolution versione please click on the photo)
This photo was shot from the island of Chios in the north eastern Aegean sea in Greece...in particular from the village of Vasileonikon in southern Chios.
The acquisition lasted 3 days (non continuous) from the 18th up to the 20th of August for a total exposure of 9.7 hours.
So what is M31 exactly?
M31 is the designation Charles Messier gave to the largest galaxy of the Local group,the group of galaxies that contains our own Milky way and M33 (the Triangulum Galaxy) which are the 3 largest of the group. M31 is the largest one with an estimate ammount of stars that reaches up to 1 trillion and a total diameter up to 220.000 light years.The distance between our Milky way and M31 is aproximatelly 2.5M light years.
Although it appears more than six times as wide as the full Moon when photographed through a larger telescope, only the brighter central region is visible to the naked eye or when viewed using binoculars or a small telescope and would it hence appear to be but another star.
This photo is composed by 58x600" light frames with they respective calibration frames.
The shots were taken at a sensor temperature of -15°C
OTA: SW Equinox 80 ED+FF (F:500mm)
Mount:AZEQ6-GT
CCD: QHY8l (-15°)
Guiding CCD: QHY5m
The acquisition lasted 3 days (non continuous) from the 18th up to the 20th of August for a total exposure of 9.7 hours.
So what is M31 exactly?
M31 is the designation Charles Messier gave to the largest galaxy of the Local group,the group of galaxies that contains our own Milky way and M33 (the Triangulum Galaxy) which are the 3 largest of the group. M31 is the largest one with an estimate ammount of stars that reaches up to 1 trillion and a total diameter up to 220.000 light years.The distance between our Milky way and M31 is aproximatelly 2.5M light years.
Although it appears more than six times as wide as the full Moon when photographed through a larger telescope, only the brighter central region is visible to the naked eye or when viewed using binoculars or a small telescope and would it hence appear to be but another star.
This photo is composed by 58x600" light frames with they respective calibration frames.
The shots were taken at a sensor temperature of -15°C
OTA: SW Equinox 80 ED+FF (F:500mm)
Mount:AZEQ6-GT
CCD: QHY8l (-15°)
Guiding CCD: QHY5m