wide field astrophotography
The Andromeda Galaxy (aka M31 or NGC 224) is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter of about 152,000 light-years. It is located approximately 2.5 million light years from earth in the constellation of Andromeda.
The Andromeda Galaxy is thought to contain roughly one trillion stars compared to our own Milky Way which is estimated to contain roughly 250 billion stars.
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are both moving through space and are expected to collide in around 4 or 5 billion years. The result might create a giant new elliptical or lenticular galaxy.
Nikon D750 | WO Zenithstar 61ii 360mm | 3 hour exposure | 2022-10-22
Image captured from the ES Fox Observatory near Wiarton, Ontario)
Also seen in the image (see annotations below) are dwarf galaxies M110 (NGC 205) and M32 (NGC 221). Both are satellite galaxies of Andromeda. Also visible in the image is the bright star cloud NGC 206.
Astrometric annotations detail surrounding stars and galaxies
