A deep Andromeda galaxy

The Andromeda galaxy, also catalogued as M31, is maybe the furthest object that can be seen by the naked eye, with the exception of M33 under pristine skies and exceptional eyes. This spiral galaxy lays around 2.5 million light years away from us. Because of its size and distance from our Milky Way, Andromeda is approaching us at a speed of 110 km/second (being a blue shifted object). In a “near future” both galaxies will collide creating a new super galaxy, the Milkomeda galaxy.

This +130h image shows some faint details around the Andromeda galaxy, both in broadband and narrowband data. We can see, by the use of the Luminance filter, the distorted shapes of M32 and M110 as they are pulled by the strong gravity of M31 showing a small galactic halo and a stream of stars. We can also see, by the use of the H alpha filter, the faint galactic cirrus around M31 that has recently been photographed by the astrophotography community (see also my widefield work on this structure around M31 back in 2021).

I also added some +35 hours of [OIII] in order to see if I was able to capture the faint structure around M31 recently discovered by M.Dreschler & co. (January 2023). I will need much more data to show that amazing and really faint [OIII] arch.

The full image covers an area of 4º24′ x 3º at a resolution of 2.59″/pixel.