| Andromeda Galaxy - DSLR |
Music - Chariots of Fire theme.
The Great Andromeda Galaxy, M31, is the farthest object most of us will ever see with the naked eye. At a distance of over 2 million light years, this
galaxy is so huge that it occupies an area in the sky several times larger than the full moon! Although similar to our own Milky Way Galaxy, M31 is twice
as large, containing 300 billion suns. Billions of stars are packed tightly together at the galaxy's core, creating the bright central glow, concealing a central
massive black hole . Two satellite galaxies of M31 are in the same view. M32, a dwarf elliptical galaxycontaining a mere 3 billion solar masses, is tucked
in tightly on the left of M31. M110 is slightly larger, seen in the bottom right of this image.
The image above combined 32 x 5-minute exposures, taken through an Astro-Physics Riccardi-Honders 12" Astrograph mounted on an AP 1200 GTO
mount, using a Hutech-modified Canon 6D full frame DSLR. Total imaging time was 2 hours 40 minutes. The image below, obtained 7 years earlier,
combined 15 luminance, 14 red, 8 green, and 8 blue 5-minute exposures through a Takahashi Sky90 refractor with a reducer to yield 400mm focal length,
using an ST10 XME camera, for a total imaging time of 3 hours 45 minutes. Which do you prefer?
galaxy is so huge that it occupies an area in the sky several times larger than the full moon! Although similar to our own Milky Way Galaxy, M31 is twice
as large, containing 300 billion suns. Billions of stars are packed tightly together at the galaxy's core, creating the bright central glow, concealing a central
massive black hole . Two satellite galaxies of M31 are in the same view. M32, a dwarf elliptical galaxycontaining a mere 3 billion solar masses, is tucked
in tightly on the left of M31. M110 is slightly larger, seen in the bottom right of this image.
The image above combined 32 x 5-minute exposures, taken through an Astro-Physics Riccardi-Honders 12" Astrograph mounted on an AP 1200 GTO
mount, using a Hutech-modified Canon 6D full frame DSLR. Total imaging time was 2 hours 40 minutes. The image below, obtained 7 years earlier,
combined 15 luminance, 14 red, 8 green, and 8 blue 5-minute exposures through a Takahashi Sky90 refractor with a reducer to yield 400mm focal length,
using an ST10 XME camera, for a total imaging time of 3 hours 45 minutes. Which do you prefer?
