EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Two Views of the Wondrous Andromeda Galaxy

October 07, 2022

GregP_Combine_Sky90_Hyperstar_200mm_EPOD_2

GregP_M31_85subs_3mins_EPOD

Photographer: Greg Parker

Summary Authors: Greg Parker; Jim Foster

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is considered the most distant
object that we can detect with the unaided eye. If you live in the
Northern Hemisphere and have never seen a galaxy, other than our
Milky Way, you owe it to yourself to venture into the countryside
on a clear, moonless autumn evening and look to the northeast. Between
the stars is the asterism of the Square of Pegasus and the
constellation of Perseus, a very faint glow will appear in the
constellation of Andromeda. You may need to use averted vision
to see it. If you still can’t spot it, grab a pair of binoculars.

Of course, don’t expect to see anything that resembles the remarkable
images above, captured from the New Forest Observatory.
Nevertheless, just being able to discern this distant smudge (some
2.5 million light years away) is thrilling. The light we see when we
gaze at M31 began its path to our eyes about the time that North
America and South America were linked by the Isthmus of Panama and
around the time our ancestors were starting to stand upright. We can
see it with the naked eye not only because it’s relatively close by
(one of the Milky Way's nearest galactic neighbors), but because it’s
huge -– 220,000 light years across, holding perhaps a trillion stars.

Photo details:

Top "zoomed out view" - Canon 200 mm prime lens; ASI 2600MC Pro colour
CMOS camera.

Bottom: “zoomed in view” - Hyperstar 4 (on a Celestron C11 telescope)
image; ASI 2600MC Pro colour CMOS camera.

New Forest Observatory, U.K. Coordinates: 50.819444, -1.59


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Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

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