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Andromeda

OBSERVER: Ola Karlsson
COMPOSER: Ola Karlsson
DATE: 14 September 2013
POSITION: AZ: 100 00 00 ALT: 55 00 00
EXPOSURE TIME: 9x15s, combined
Andromeda is the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia in the greek mythology. The same story also contains the constellations Perseus, Pegasus, and Cetus. Most of the constellation is circumpolar in Sweden but the most convenient observing time is December to the middle of January to the south in the early evening. However, the conditions are perhaps better later in the evening in September but then more to the east. The arc formed by the four brightest stars stretching from Perseus to Pegasus is the most noticeable part of the constellation. The central part of our neighbor galaxy M31 can be found almost at in the middle of the image as a fuzzy dot with a hint of it's disc. The bright star alpha And (at the end of the lower right white line) is also part of the "square of Pegasus". One way to find M31 it is to go from the upper left corner of the "square of Pegasus", count two bright stars along Andromeda's arc and then go up (turn 90 degrees) about half the distance you just went. This image has a scale of about 48" per pixel.
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