Explore the Universe - M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)

The Perseid Meteor Shower was in full swing and I setup the 8" telescope at the northeast baseball diamond outside of the Indus Recreation Centre.  This region was especially good for the northeast sky that is typically blocked in my backyard.

Andromeda (the constellation) was midway up the sky and I took the opportunity to locate the Andromeda galaxy.  In dark skies you can actually see the galaxy as a fuzzy patch below Cassiopeia with your naked eye.  Last November I took a picture of the galaxy from my backyard.  Unfortunately it was before I learned autoguiding and the light pollution limited my exposure time.  I am hoping to attempt it again this Fall and image the spiral arms with a wide field refractor.

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy is about 2.5 million light years away from us and is the furthest object in the sky we can see with our naked eye.  At 220,000 light years it is about twice the diameter of our home galaxy the Milky Way.  It is also estimated that there are more than a trillion stars that make up this galaxy.  Much like the Milky Way, it is a spiral galaxy and sits in the same local group as our own.

Andromeda is moving toward us at an astronomical snail's pace of 225km/s and will collide with us in about 4 billion years.  Will our solar system survive the collision? 

The observation record from Friday evening is shown below.

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy Observation Record

The previous blog post has a map and describes how you can see the galaxy from your favourite dark site: Week 33 (August 13-19).

It is now less than a week until the solar eclipse!  The forecast for August 21, such that it is 6 days out, is predicting a sunny day!  We will likely setup at Olympic Plaza with a solar filtered telescope for anyone in the downtown crowd to view.