Introduction | Map | Sketch | My Best Own Photos | My Own Observations | References | Appendix: My Own Photos
On this page I collect my observations of the Andromeda galaxy M 31 (NGC 224) and its satellite galaxies M 32 (NGC 221) , and M 110 (NGC 205) in the constellation Andromeda. M 31 contains the large star cloud NGC 206.
The Andromeda galaxy M 31 in constellation Andromeda (but it is rather located between the constellations of Andromeda and Cassiopeia), is our neighboring galaxy and about 2.5 million light years away from us. Because it can be seen with the naked eye under good conditions (in which I have never succeeded yet...), it is the most remote sky object that we can see with the naked eye. It can be seen in binoculars and in small telescopes as a diffuse shimmering elongated oval - and I have not been able to detect any details yet, although one should actually recognize the two small galaxies M 32 (like a star) and M 110 in a small telescope. In other words, light pollution is quite high in Mühlhausen / Kraichgau. Having a good night sky in France (September 2017), I was able so see a brighter core in binoculars (Trinovid). In the years thereafter, we were always able see M 31 there quite well in telescopes and binoculars.
With the Atik Infinity camera, however, I was able to find the galaxy M 32 in January 2018 for the first time ever. In January 2020, I actually saw the galaxy M 32 for the first time, namely in my C8 telescope - a fuzzy "corner star" in a quadrangle of stars. With the eVscope, I was able to find both M 32 and the fainter M 110 in early 2020; however, both do not fit into the field of view together with M 31. With the Vaonis Vespera, however, I can see M 31 and M 32 in the same field of view, in mosaic mode even all three of them. In the Vespera Pro, you can see all three galaxies in the normal FOV; M 31, however, is slightly cropped.
| M 31 (NGC 224) | M 32 (NGC 221) | M 110 (NGC 205) | ||
| Size: 3° x 1° (Stoyan) Distance: 2.5 million light years (Stoyan) Rating: ***** (Stoyan) |
Size: 4' x 3' (Stoyan) Distance: 2.5 million light years (Stoyan) Rating: ** (Stoyan) |
Size: 10' x 5' (Stoyan) Distance: 2.5 million light years (Stoyan) Rating: ** (Stoyan) |
After I had searched on the balcony for Praesepe with the binoculars on the second day, I just looked into the other direction, that is, to the west, to see whether I would not "stumble" over the Andromeda Galaxy M 31. I know more or less where it is in the sky, and in February, where the Andromeda is oriented vertically, the galaxy should be particularly easy to find (with binoculars because of the large section of the sky that they show...). And so it was! Since it was still quite bright in the west, the impression that the galaxy made in the binoculars was not overwhelming, but the galaxy was recognizable without any doubts. With the GSD 680 (8" Dobsonian) on the terrace, I was unfortunately not able to find the galaxy (with the binoculars I was able to find it from there, too...). I had trouble to orient myself with the red-dot finder in this sky region, because the faint stars in the respective region were hardly or not at all visible in the finder.
On the third day, when I used the Heritage 100P on the GoTo mount, I found M 31, of course, but the galaxy was only faint; the same applied to my binoculars. Obviously, the sky in the west was still too bright... On February 18, I looked for M 31 using the GSD 680 for a second time, found it this time, and was able to see the galaxy well, but not in detail. The same applied more or less to the Heritage P130 on the GoTo mount (February, 26, new moon).
The "obvious" companion galaxies of M 31 are M 32 and M 110. The dwarf galaxies NGC 185 and NGC 147 in constellation Cassiopeia are further companion galaxies of M 31.
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ŃGC 206 , Oct 27, 2022 - Vespera (290 frames = 2900s), mosaic, processed and cropped |
NGC 206 , Jan 28, 2024 - Vespera (341 frames = 3410s), mosaic, CLS Filter, processed, denoised (DN), and cropped |
NGC 206, Aug 24, 2024 - Vespera Pro (181 frames = 1810s), processed (TIFF) and denoised (DN) and cropped |
M 31 contains the large star cloud NGC 206, which was discovered by Wilhelm Herschel. It contains more than 300 stars brighter than Mb=−3.6. It is faintly visible in the Vespera (Pro), but cannot be resolved into individual stars.
M 31, M 32, and M 110 between Andromeda and Cassiopeia (Image Courtesy of SkySafari Astronomy, www.simulationcurriculum.com)
Overview map: Andromeda Galaxy M 31 (with M 32 and M 110) and Perseus Double Cluster NGC 884/869 (Image Courtesy of SkySafari Astronomy, www.simulationcurriculum.com)
The sketch by Michael Vlasov (DeepSkyWatch.com) provides a rough impression of what I observed (my impression was much fainter than the sketch):
Sketch of the Andromeda Galaxy by Michael Vlasov (Copyright © Michael Vlasov 2016) - presented with the author's permission
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M 31 and M 32 (top left), from recording, processed |
M 31 and M 32 (top left), from recording, processed |
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M 31 and M 32 (top left), from recording, processed |
M 31 and M 32 (top left), from recording, processed |
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M 31 and M 32 (top left) labelled by astrometry.net |
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M 31 - Aug 24, 2020 |
M 31 - Aug 24, 2020 |
M 31 - Sep 18, 2020 |
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M 31 - Aug 24, 2020, processed |
M 31 - Aug 24, 2020, processed |
M 31 - Sep 18, 2020, processed |
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| M 31 - Nov 14, 2020 | M 31 - Nov 14, 2020 | M 31 - Nov 14, 2020 | ||
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| M 31 - Nov 14, 2020, photo above processed | M 31 - Nov 14, 2020, photo above processed | M 31 - Nov 14, 2020, photo above processed |
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M 32 - Mar 18, 2020 |
M 32 - Aug 24, 2020 |
M 32 - Aug 24, 2020 |
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M 32 - Mar 18, 2020, photo above processed |
M 32 - Aug 24, 2020, photo above processed |
M 32 - Aug 24, 2020, photo above processed |
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M 110 - Aug 24, 2020 |
M 110 - Aug 24, 2020, photo left processed |
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M 31/32 - Oct 22, 2022 |
M 31/32 - Oct 22, 2022, photo left processed |
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M 31/32 - Nov 2, 2022 |
M 31/32 - Nov 2, 2022, photo left processed |
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M 31, Aug 12, 2022 - original (71 frames = 710s) |
M 32 (center), Aug 12, 2022 - original (8 frames = 80s) |
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M 31, Oct 5, 2022 - original (44 frames = 440s) |
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M 31, Oct 17, 2022 - original (221 frames = 2210s) |
M 31, Oct 17, 2022 - original (221 frames = 2210s), processed |
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M 110, Oct 5, 2022 - original (46 frames = 460s) |
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M 31/32/110, Oct 27, 2022 - original (290 frames = 2900s), mosaic |
M 31/32/110, Oct 27, 2022 - original (290 frames = 2900s), mosaic, processed and cropped |
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M 31/32/110, Jan 28, 2024 - original (341 frames = 3410s), mosaic, CLS Filter |
M 31/32/110, Jan 28, 2024 - large (341 frames = 3410s), mosaic, CLS Filter, processed |
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M 31/32/110, Oct 27, 2022 - original (290 frames = 2900s), mosaic |
M 31/32/110, Oct 27, 2022 - original (290 frames = 2900s), mosaic, processed and cropped |
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M 31/32/110, Jan 28, 2024 - original (341 frames = 3410s), mosaic, CLS Filter |
M 31/32/110, Jan 28, 2024 - large (341 frames = 3410s), mosaic, CLS Filter, processed |
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M 31/32/110, Aug 24, 2024 - 2000 (181 frames = 1810s) |
M 31/32/110, Aug 24, 2024 - 2000 (181 frames = 1810s), processed |
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M 31/32/110, Aug 24, 2024 - 2000 (181 frames = 1810s), processed (TIFF) |
M 31/32/110, Aug 24, 2024 - 2000 (181 frames = 1810s), processed (TIFF) and denoised (DN) |
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M 31 and M 32 (top left), unprocessed* |
M 31 and M 32 (top left), post-processed* |
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M 31 and M 32 (top left), from recording, processed |
M 31 and M 32 (top left), from recording, processed, darker variant |
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M 31 and M 32 (top left) labelled by astrometry.net |
M 31 and M 32 (top left), photo on top processed with Polarr |
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This more "aggressive" variant was started with auto-contrast and then changed slightly in the darks to make the background darker. As a result, the core is more washed out, but the fine structures are better to recognize, if one looks at the large version. I found a similar version on astrojedi's blog, so I tried again and processed more "aggresively" to get closer to its result. |
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M 31 and M 32 (top left), from recording, processed, more "aggressive" variant |
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M 31 and M 32 (top left), from further recording, processed |
M 31 and M 32 (top left), from yet another recording, processed* |
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M 31 and M 32 (top left), photo on top processed with Polarr |
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Note that these photos show the complete image and that the large versions are in original size. This is due to the fact that the sky objects are extended - even beyond the field of view.
*) On these photos you can see M 32 as a fuzzy "corner star" in a quadrangle, similar to how I saw it in the C8 (however, reversed).
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M 31 - Feb 5, 2020 |
M 31 - Feb 6, 2020 |
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M 31 - Mar 17, 2020, denoised, clouds |
M 31 - Mar 18, 2020, wrong label |
M 31 - Mar 18, 2020, ditto, processed |
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M 31 - Aug 24, 2020 |
M 31 - Aug 24, 2020 |
M 31 - Sep 7, 2020 |
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M 31 - Aug 24, 2020, processed |
M 31 - Aug 24, 2020, processed |
M 31 - Sep 7, 2020, processed |
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M 31 - Sep 14, 2020 |
M 31 - Sep 14, 2020 |
M 31 - Sep 18, 2020 |
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M 31 - Sep 14, 2020, processed |
M 31 - Sep 14, 2020, processed |
M 31 - Sep 18, 2020, processed |
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M 31 - Oct 19, 2020 |
M 31 - Nov 14, 2020 |
M 31 - Nov 14, 2020 |
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M 31 - Oct 19, 2020, photo above processed |
M 31 - Nov 14, 2020, photo above processed |
M 31 - Nov 14, 2020, photo above processed |
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M 31 - Nov 14, 2020 |
M 31 - Oct 7, 2021 |
M 31 - Oct 9, 2021, somewhat fuzzy |
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M 31 - Nov 14, 2020, photo on top processed |
M 31 - Oct 7, 2021, photo on top processed |
M 31 - Oct 9, 2021, photo on top processed |
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M 32 - Mar 17, 2020, clouds |
M 32 - Mar 17, 2020 |
M 32 - Mar 17, 2020, processed |
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M 32 - Mar 18, 2020 |
M 32 - Aug 24, 2020 |
M 32 - Aug 24, 2020 |
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M 32 - Mar 18, 2020, photo above processed |
M 32 - Aug 24, 2020, photo above processed |
M 32 - Aug 24, 2020, photo above processed |
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M 32 - Oct 19, 2020 |
M 32 - Oct 19, 2020, photo left processed |
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M 110 - Mar 17, 2020 |
M 110 - Mar 17, 2020, processed |
M 110 - Mar 18, 2020, processed | ||
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M 110 - Aug 24, 2020 |
M 110 - Oct 19, 2020 |
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M 110 - Aug 24, 2020, photo above processed |
M 110 - Oct 19, 2020, photo above processed |
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M 31 - Dec 10, 2021 |
M 31 - Dec 10, 2021 |
M 31 - Dec 21, 2021 |
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M 31 - Dec 10, 2021, photo on top processed |
M 31 - Dec 10, 2021, photo on top processed |
M 31 - Dec 21, 2021, photo on top processed |
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M 31 - Jan 6, 2022 |
M 31 - Jan 6, 2022, photo left processed |
M 31/32 - Oct 22, 2022 |
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M 31/32 - Nov 2, 2022 |
M 31/32 - Nov 2, 2022, photo left processed |
M 31/32 - Oct 22, 2022, photo on top processed |
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M 31 - Nov 24, 2022 |
M 31 - Jan 18, 2023 |
M 31 - Dec 18, 2023, 7 min |
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M 31 - Nov 24, 2022, photo on top processed |
M 31 - Jan 18, 2023, photo on top processed |
M 31 - Jan 18, 2023, photo on top processed |
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M 31, Aug 12, 2022 - original (71 frames = 710 seconds) |
M 32 (center), Aug 12, 2022 - original (8 frames = 80 seconds) |
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M 31, Oct 5, 2022 - original (44 frames = 440s) |
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M 31, Oct 17, 2022 - original (221 frames = 2210s) |
M 31, Oct 17, 2022 - original (221 frames = 2210s), processed |
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M 31, 22.10.2022 - Original (134 frames = 1340s) |
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M 110, Oct 5, 2022 - original (46 frames = 460s) |
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M 31/32/110, Oct 27, 2022 - original (290 frames = 2900s), mosaic |
M 31/32/110, Oct 27, 2022 - original (290 frames = 2900s), mosaic, processed and cropped |
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M 31/32/110, Jan 28, 2024 - original (341 frames = 3410s), mosaic, CLS Filter |
M 31/32/110, Jan 28, 2024 - large (341 frames = 3410s), mosaic, CLS-Filter, processed |
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M 31/32/110, Aug 24, 2024 - 2000 (181 frames = 1810s) |
M 31/32/110, Aug 24, 2024 - 2000 (181 frames = 1810s), processed |
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M 31/32/110, Aug 24, 2024 - 2000 (181 frames = 1810s), processed (TIFF) |
M 31/32/110, Aug 24, 2024 - 2000 (181 frames = 1810s), processed (TIFF) and denoised (DN) |