Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

About 20 years ago I saw Andromeda for the first time in one of my first photographs at night. Since then, it has been a big dream of mine to be able to photograph her "in large". And this dream has finally come true :-)

 

After nine nightly imaging sessions and many processing sessions last September, I finally finished this beautiful deep-sky image.

 

The Andromeda Galaxy is a majestic spiral galaxy located approximately 2.5 million light-years away from Earth. Andromeda is on a collision course with the Milky Way, and the two galaxies are expected to merge in about 4 billion years, forming a new galaxy often referred to as "Milkomeda." Andromeda is home to over one trillion stars, more than twice the number in the Milky Way. Remarkably, it was one of the first galaxies observed using a telescope in the 17th century, and its light takes over two million years to reach us, offering a glimpse into the distant cosmic past.

 

 

Equipment:

Askar FRA400, 400mm f5.6

ZWO AM5

ZWO ASI2600MC Pro

 

Acquisition:

UV-IR Filter: 250 x 180s (12:30h) / 4 Sessions

Optolong L-eXtreme Filter: 190 x 300s (15:50h) / 5 Sessions

 

Location:

Kassel, Germany

Bortle 4-5

Done