The Andromeda Galaxy (M31), believed to have been formed roughly 10 billion years ago from the collision and subsequent merger of smaller galaxies.
It's a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth, the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way and contains at least twice the number of stars as the Milky Way (estimated to be 200–400 billion).
First referred to in the year 964 AD by the Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, is approximately 220,000 light years across, and is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which also contains the Milky Way
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are expected to collide in 4.5 billion years, eventually merging to form a giant elliptical galaxy or perhaps a large disc galaxy.
Equipment:
- Vixen AX103S 103mm f/8.0 ED Apochromatic Refractor telescope.
- Avalon Linear Fast Reverse Mount.
- QSI 683 CCD camera, Kodak KAF-8300 8.3 mega-pixel sensor cooled to -25 °C.
- Astronomik L-RGB, Astrodon 5nm Ha and Astrodon 3nm Oiii filters.
Image exposure (5+ hours in total):
- 10 x 900sec Ha.
- 32 x 120sec red.
- 32 x 120sec green.
- 32 x 120sec blue.
