Virtual telescope Bellatrix Observatory




 

Andromeda Galaxy - And


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M31, the famous Andromeda Galaxy, is the first big galaxy we find outside our Milky Way. It is the most distant object visible with the naked eye, being at about 2.5 millions of light years from us. Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi quickly described it in his notes arounbd 964. This image, showing the beautiful details in the galaxy's core, was captured with the PW17 unit, part of the Virtual Telescope Project. A total of 15 exposures, with 5 minutes of integration each, were averaged. Images were unguided, completely trusting the Paramount ME mount. The CCD camera is a SBIG STL-6303E. The image scale is of 0.79 "/pixel.