2nd Observing Session (M31 & M33)

After a week of clouds we finally got one clear night yesterday so I set up the scope and focused on M31 (the Andromeda galaxy) and M33 (the Triangulum galaxy which I photographed previously). Learning from my first photography session, these two images turned out much better - with sharp focus, 16-bit color processing, better detail and dark frame subtraction.

M31 (aka "Andromedia galaxy") is the closest galaxy to our own (at 2.5 million light-years away) and consists of over a trillion stars (greatly exceeding the amount of stars in our own galaxy). M31 is one of the only galaxies which can be seen with the naked eye in a dark location as it is very bright (magnitude 4.4). M31 and our own Milky Way galaxy are set to collide in 2.5 billion years...




M33 (aka the "Triangulum galaxy") is a galaxy about 3 million light-years away, and is so close to the Andromeda galaxy that both are gravitationally bound to each other. M33 is also on a impact course to the Milky Way, but will take billions of years to reach us.