M31 the Andromeda Galaxy
  • EyestotheskiesEyestotheskies
    Just gobsmacked, I've just come in from the garden after looking at Andromeda in my binoculars. You can actually make out the shape, its just amazing that its a whole other galaxy out there in deep space millions of light years away and I can see it from my garden!!

    It looks like a fuzzy blob, the right hand point of the W of cassiopeia points to it. If you use averted vision the shape appears :-)

    Lovely clear night tonight
  • RayGilRayGil
    Well done! are you using a tripod with binoculars? I have never been able to hold binoculars steady enough for detailed observations with a tripod. I normally just use bino's for visual scam before the scope gets pointed at the target.

    Ray
  • EyestotheskiesEyestotheskies
    No Ray I'm not using a tripod, but I can see just how much better it would be with one. I was suprised just how good Andromeda looked, but yes I could get to study things properly with the Binos held still on a tripod rather than just glimpsing an object moving around the field of view.

    So we see Andromeda as it was 2.5 million years ago, I suppose that means its real actual position now would be closer to us and maybe in a different position. As I hear it is travelling toward us, very strange. In other words the galaxy we see is as it was 2.5 million years ago, I wonder if it would look the same if we could see it as it is right now in present time :-/
  • RayGilRayGil
    This was my image of M31, M32 & M110 Galaxies taken this morning from Birkrigg, Cumbria, it was a stunning sight at 01:00.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/raygil/5983417268/
  • EyestotheskiesEyestotheskies
    That is just an amazing image of M31, you can actually see the dark dust lanes very clearly. I had another look at M31 around the same time, a very clear night with the Milky Way right overhead.

    I can also see why they call that other image the swan nebula :-) Great photos Ray
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