Andromeda is a galaxy located about 2.5 million light years from our home galaxy, The Milky Way. It is a large spiral galaxy and is thought to look very similar to our own. It is estimated to be a big larger than the Milky Way, and is also on a collision course with us. The gravitational pull between Andromeda and the Milky Way is stronger than dark energy spreading the space between them.
Andromeda is one of the only naked eye galaxies. It is located in the constellation Andromeda, and easy to find if you can spot the W shape of Cassiopeia. It is visible in dark locations as a large fuzzy patch. The fuzzy patch visible to the naked eye is just the core region of the galaxy. The fainter arms extend much further out, all together being over 5 full moons wide in the night sky! It is a huge object but just too faint to see the entire thing without long exposure photography.
Shot the night of 10/27/13 from Southern Utah
Scope: 8" F3.9 OTA
Camera: Canon 6D unmodified
Corrector: Baader MPCC Mark III at 48mm
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G (Eqmod)
Lights: 18 at 300 seconds
Flats: 12
Bias: 12
Dithering and Acquisition with BackYardEos
Stacking in Deep Sky Stacker
Post Processing Photoshop
Enjoy!