The Andromeda Galaxy: Distant and Beautiful

The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy, located about 2.5 million light-years from us here on Earth. This makes it the closest major galaxy to us. Also, Andromeda is on collision course with the Milky Way galaxy, and in many billion years the two galaxies will merge to form a new galaxy that some call Milk-omeda. The galaxy takes its name from the Constellation it is found within, The Andromeda Constellation, which was named after princess Andromeda in the Greek Myth of Perseus.

I find it fascinating that something so far away could appear so large in our sky, Andromeda appears larger than the full moon in our sky. Its size and distance mean that Andromeda is the easiest galaxy to photograph and can even be seen with the naked eye.

I first attempted photographing Andromeda in January 2020.

I had seen pictures of the Andromeda Galaxy taken by other amateur astrophotographers and I was very excited to try it myself. After my recent successes with the Orion Nebula, I was hopeful that I could get a good picture of Andromeda, especially because it was a new moon(so no moonlight). I took about 120 light frames and 20 dark frames before my camera battery ran out. I forgot to charge my camera battery(Amateur Mistake!), and so I sadly wasn’t able to take any more shots. After stacking the images, and doing some editing, I finally reached my finished product.

The best I could edit my first attempt at Andromeda

It was disappointing to say the least. The color was off, there was a lot of noise, and I barely got any detail. After that I lost motivation to try photographing Andromeda again, and it wasn’t until October that I tried. Over the months now I had gained more experience, photographing other galaxies, such as Bodes and Cigar, and Star Clusters. When I tried again in October, I was determined to do better. This time I took about 290 light frames, and 30 dark frames on a clear night.

My second attempt at Andromeda

After anxiously waiting for 45 minutes, for the stacking software to finish, I spent a good few days editing it to my satisfaction. The end product was pretty good, at least compared to my previous attempt. I got a lot more detail, with much less noise, and it actually looked pretty. Despite this, I was somewhat disappointed that I didn’t actually get much color detail, and part of the galaxy was faint.

It won’t be long before I try again, especially because it’s that season. Till then, enjoy the winter skies.