This image was taken on the night of 9th October 2015, taken from the light polluted San Francisco Peninsular using an IR modified Canon 550D and a Orion ED80T telescope. I really wanted to get about 4 hours of data capture but was only able to get 55 minutes before the fog rolled in.
Messier 31, also known as the Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy about 2.5 million light-years from Earth. It is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way and holds about 1 Trillion stars, over double that in our own galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is on a collision course with the Milky Way and will likely result in the formation of a giant elliptical galaxy. That will be in about 3.75 billion years so no need to start stockpiling food and water just yet 😉
Image details:
5 x 1 minute
4 x 5 minute
3 x 10 minute
Flats, Darks & Bias frames were also used.
Images processed using PixInsight.
