SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Jon Greif
Location of Photo:
La Jolla, CA, USA
Date/Time of photo:
September 25-26, 2022, from 9 pm to 4 am PDT
Equipment:
Takahashi FSQ85 refractor (450 mm focal length) with 1.01x flattener, ZWO ASI533 MC Pro imaging camera, Optolong L-Pro filter, 50 mm ZWO guide scope, ZWO ASI292 guide camera, Rainbow Astro RST-135 mount, ASIAIR Plus controller, Pixinsight 1.8.9 processing software. 5.75 hours integration time. Bortle 6 sky. Waning gibbous moon.
Description:
This is the Andromeda Galaxy (aka M31). The image was taken from our deck 2 nights ago -- 5.75 hours of exposure/integration time through an 85 mm Takahashi refractor. Two other galaxies, neighbors of M31, are also visible -- M110 is below and to the left of M31, and M32 is above and to the right. The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy with diameter of about 152,000 light-years and lies approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth. It is the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way, and is found in the constellation Andromeda. The mass of the Andromeda Galaxy is similar to that of our own Milky Way, at 1 trillion solar masses. The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are expected to collide in around 4–5 billion years, merging to form one giant galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is among the brightest of the night sky objects, and is visible to the naked eye from Earth on moonless nights at dark sky sites.
