M31 - Andromeda Galaxy (DSLR)
Click to Zoom
M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, in a simple unguided DSLR field — the first of five wide-field images taken during a summer astrophysics workshop. The other four followed a few months later: the Lagoon/Trifid region, the M16/M17 region, the North America and Pelican region, and the Rho-Antares region. This image is also covered in a blog post.
Location: Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus
Date: June 2018
Scope/Mount: Takahashi FSQ-85ED ("Baby-Q") apo refractor @ f/5.3 on a Takahashi NJP mount
Camera: Nikon D810a DSLR
Exposure Info: 36 minutes total (2 minute subs, ISO 1600)
Extra Notes: Unattended and unguided -- polar aligned and pointed manually with the finder scope, then left to run on an on-camera intervalometer while the "Astrophysics in a Nutshell" workshop students worked on other things. Posted first of the five images from this session.
- What it is
- M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, is the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way — the most distant object regularly visible to the naked eye.
- Constellation
- Andromeda
- Distance
- ~2.5 million light-years
- Apparent magnitude
- ~3.4
- Angular size
- ~3°10′ × 1°
- Coordinates
- RA 00h 42m 44s, Dec +41° 16′
This summary was generated by an AI assistant from general astronomical references, not from Jay's own notes on this specific image. Treat every detail above as a starting point for research, not settled fact.