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Size: 192.4 x 62.2 arcmin Magnitude: 4.4 RA: 00h 42m 44.4s Dec: 41 d 16m 08s |
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There
is really one word for the Andromeda Galaxy: Fantastic!
You can easily see M-31 with binoculars. The galaxy is so large that
amateur scopes only show the central core region. At 192 x 60 arcmin
the galaxy is as wide as six full moons and as tall as two full moons.
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One of my attempts at film imagining. I was trying to use the 35 mm film frame size to capture M-31 in a single exposure. My focus turned out to be a little off and the 90 mm MAK 500 just couldn't quite get the galaxy edges. I've included the image because it approximates what you can see with binoculars under dark skies. |
Scope: Orion MAK 500 |
| Nikon w/ Kodak MAX 800 Film | |
| Focal Ratio: f5.5 | |
| Exposure: 35 min auto-guided w/ MX-5C & STAR 2000 | |
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Scope: Orion MAK 500 |
| M-5C CCD Camera | |
| Focal Ratio: f5.5 | |
| Exposure: 4 min | |
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Scope: 8" LX 200 SCT |
| MX-5C CCD Camera | |
| Focal Ratio: f4 | |
| Exposure: 4 min | |
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This composite image just about captures the full extent of the Galaxy. My skies were pretty dark (Mag 4+ which is dark for me) the night I took this sequence, but I did have some wind. So the stars are not as sharp as I would like, but it came out pretty good. If you look closely on the large image you can see where I patched the exposures together. This is a tedious and time consuming task, which I can never get exactly right. Click here for the large image. (177k file)
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Scope: 8" LX 200 SCT |
| MX-5C CCD Camera & STAR 2000 | |
| Focal Ratio: f3.3 | |
| Exposure: Twelve 10 minute exposures patched together in Photoshop | |
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