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Thursday, October 2, 2014

Our intergalactial neighbour

We often think that our neighbour is just down the street or behind the fence in our backyard.
Last night I had a glimpse of our cosmic neighbour.

Say hi to The Andromeda galaxy - a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Andromeda. The galaxy itself is largest in the local group and relatively close to The Milky Way galaxy, the galaxy where you are probably reading this, constantly moving through space on a tiny mudball called Earth. If you are somewhere else, you have pretty damn good internet connection.
Andromeda galaxy is very easy to observe, even with naked eye you can see the brightest parts. Binoculars or small telescope makes this even more easier. You can find it by scanning the area between Cassiopeia and Pegasus. Photographing it requires tracking mount, in this case I used Astrotrac.
Andromeda also has satelite galaxies around it. Up on the right side is a bright Messier 110, a dwarf elliptical galaxy. Directly below it underneath Andromeda itself is another dwarf elliptical galaxy called Messier 32.

Light from 2,5 million light-years away

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