Reprocessed version of image that was originally processed in 2018.
This revision will be offered as an aluminized art print in my Etsy observatory store.
AstroLaVista - EtsyIt is available here:
Andromeda M32 Aluminized Art Print - EtsyVia EarthSky:
“Although several dozen minor galaxies lie closer to our Milky Way, the Andromeda galaxy is the closest large spiral galaxy to ours. Excluding the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, visible from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere, the Andromeda galaxy is the brightest external galaxy you can see. At 2.5 million light-years, it’s the most distant thing most of us humans can see with the unaided eye.
Note: The large spiral Triangulum galaxy is slightly more distant at 2.7 million light-years. Like the Andromeda galaxy, it’s a member of our Local Group of galaxies. And it’s sometimes said to be visible to the eye also. But it’s turned face-on to us, and so has a low surface brightness. Unlike the Andromeda galaxy, it’s very hard to see.
Astronomers sometimes call the Andromeda galaxy by the name Messier 31, or M31. It was the 31st on a famous list of fuzzy objects compiled by the French astronomer Charles Messier (1730-1817). His catalog listed “objects to avoid” when comet-hunting. Nowadays, amateur astronomers seek out these objects with their telescopes and binoculars. They’re some of most beautiful deep-sky objects known.
Most Messier objects are star clusters or gas clouds in our Milky Way galaxy. But the Andromeda galaxy is a whole separate galaxy, even bigger than our Milky Way. In a dark sky, you can see that it’s big on the sky as well, a smudge of distant light larger than a full moon."
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