Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Andromeda (And)  ·  Contains:  Great Nebula in Andromeda  ·  M 110  ·  M 31  ·  M 32  ·  NGC 205  ·  NGC 221  ·  NGC 224
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M31 - Image The Universe First Light, Paddy Gilliland
M31 - Image The Universe First Light
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M31 - Image The Universe First Light

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M31 - Image The Universe First Light, Paddy Gilliland
M31 - Image The Universe First Light
Powered byPixInsight

M31 - Image The Universe First Light

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Description

Some first light from the first of 3 initial setups in Spain.

Started off with something easy but pleased with the results so thought I would post.

Some nice HA showing through and great details for a short test run.

REV B

M31 Ha Review

Now we I am able to look more in depth at the objects I image thanks to the superb seeing.

This image highlights some of the HII (Hydrogen areas) in the first light M31 image. The red areas are HII nebulae in the galaxy - like the HII nebulae we see in our galaxy just a lot further away! It is remarkable how much HII is present in this image not to mention it has definition and structure, astounding! As it has not been possible to capture until we started imaging at the location they are mainly all new nebulae to me (M33 is well known for its Ha to see so much in M31 was a surprise) so now off to learn the details behind each of these areas.

As well as the nice pictures its great to be able to get additional data and information to learn from.

REV C

A speck of light that changed our Universe

This little speck of light (a Cepheid Varible star) changed the Universe as we knew it in 1923! This is Hubble's Variable Star Number 1.

Cepheid variable stars had already been shown to be reliable distance markers due to the rate at which they brighten and fade proportional to their peak brightness. The brighter it is the slower the fluctuation. Through comparison of the star’s apparent brightness versus the brightness predicted by the fluctuations, astronomers can deduce how far away they are.

Edwin Hubble's measurement on this star, in what was then known as the Andromeda Nebula proved it is far beyond our Milky Way.

With this finding confirmed our understanding of the Universe changed, it became a far bigger place, expanding from just the Milky Way to billions of galaxies almost overnight.

Thanks to Rick Stevenson for spotting in the image.

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M31 - Image The Universe First Light, Paddy Gilliland

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