M31 The Andromeda Galaxy (Jim Raskett)

M31 The Andromeda Galaxy

"The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: /ænˈdrɒmɪdə/), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a barred spiral galaxy with diameter of about 46.56 kiloparsecs (152,000 light-years) approximately 2.5 million light-years (765 kiloparsecs) from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which itself is named after the princess who was the wife of Perseus in Greek mythology.

The virial mass of the Andromeda Galaxy is of the same order of magnitude as that of the Milky Way, at 1 trillion solar masses (2.0×1042 kilograms). The mass of either galaxy is difficult to estimate with any accuracy, but it was long thought that the Andromeda Galaxy is more massive than the Milky Way by a margin of some 25% to 50%. This has been called into question by a 2018 study that cited a lower estimate on the mass of the Andromeda Galaxy, combined with preliminary reports on a 2019 study estimating a higher mass of the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy has a diameter of about 46.56 kpc (152,000 ly), making it the largest member of the Local Group in terms of extension.

The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are expected to collide in around 4–5 billion years, merging to potentially form a giant elliptical galaxy or a large lenticular galaxy. With an apparent magnitude of 3.4, the Andromeda Galaxy is among the brightest of the Messier objects, and is visible to the naked eye from Earth on moonless nights, even when viewed from areas with moderate light pollution".

My fourth attempt at imaging this grand galaxy in as many years that I have been imaging.
I had two wonderful nights to image and collected just over 13 hours . I believe that this is up there with the most integration time on a single target.
In 2021, I collected many hours of data on this target, but was unable to add that data to my recent acquisition since last years attempt was plagued by bad CA from my Sharpstar 61 EDPHII objective. After contacting Sharpstar, they sent me a new objective that performs much better.
I hope that you like it!
Jim

N.I.N.A. Users
AstroBin Platform open discussions community forum

	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6382792
PixInsight job	VZ118H5787ZS7WI6G9KOH2S1M22JGPT1
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	00h42m47s.37
RA (top/left)	00h48m58s.61
RA (top/right)	00h48m44s.20
RA (bottom/right)	00h36m23s.88
RA (bottom/left)	00h37m03s.99

Dec (center)	+41°16′49″.8
Dec (top/left)	+40°10′30″.1
Dec (top/right)	+42°27′11″.10
Dec (bottom/right)	+42°21′58″.6
Dec (bottom/left)	+40°05′29″.1

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):