M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy

20:53 17/8/2005 UTC

This time clouds did not interrupt me as they did two nights before. The transparency was good, the only bad thing was a moon hanging low in horizon making background sky brighter. Everything else was good, I collected over an hour of exposure and that really helped with fainter outer parts of the galaxy. This is a center cropped and slightly scaled down version of the original. I think I am happy now with the M31 and its time to move on to next target! There are several globular clusters visible in this image, take a look at my detailed M31 page .

Camera: Canon EOS 350D (Rebel XT) | Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 66mm f6 petzval refractor | Mount: Orion Skyview Pro, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Guiding: , Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Phillips ToUCam Pro II webcam, Qastrocam, Orion Shorty Plus 2x Barlow | Exposure: 17 x 240s (1h8m) f6 ISO400 | Software: IRIS, GIMP | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI)