Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Deep Sky Object Image Gallery

Galaxies are perhaps one of the most attractive deep-sky objects to observe and photograph. They represent massive collections of dust, gas and countless billions of stars and are best described as islands of space matter across the universe. They are characterized as being either spiral or elliptical in nature and usually have a bright central core. Equally stunning to observe (with large-aperture telescopes) and image are galaxy clusters which represent collections of gravitationally-bound groups of galaxies whose members number from tens to thousands and which are classified on the basis of their richness (ie. number of galaxy members), shape (spherical, flat or irregular) and content (spiral or elliptical). Charles Messier's list of deep-sky celestial gems includes approximately forty bright and large galaxies.

Note: NGC 891 in Andromeda is one of the most stunning examples of an edge-on galaxy. At a distance of only 30 million light years away, it is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies and was discovered in 1784 by William Herschel (some attribute the discovery to his sister Caroline Herschel a year earlier). This galaxy is believed to resemble our own galaxy when viewed edge-on with a clear dust lane bisecting a possible large central bar. NGC 891 has hosted one supernova ("1986J", mag 14). Similar to the stunning open cluster NGC 457 in Cassiopeia, NGC 891 is another example of a stunning deep-sky object which seems to have escaped Charles Messier and which is considered amongst the top 110 finest NGC objects to observe (see here).

Please click on the image below to display in higher resolution (1200 x 900)

Image Details
NGC 891 - Edge-on Galaxy in Andromeda
Imaging Details
NGC Number:
891

Common Name(s):
N/A

Other Designations:
UGC 1831, C23

Object Type:
Galaxy

Object Classif:
Sb

Constellation:
Andromeda

RA / Dec:
02h 22m 34s /
42° 21' 03"


Distance:
30 million light-yrs

Object Size:
13.5' x 2.5'

Magnitude:
10.1
Date:
Dec 00, 2009
00:00 - 00:00 UT+2


Location:
Athens, Greece

Equipment:
Takahashi Mewlon 210/f11.5
Takahashi Mewlon 0.8x RD/FF
AP 1200GTO GEM
SBIG ST-10XME
SBIG CFW10
SBIG LRGB + IR-block


Integrations:
Lum :  000 min (15 x 10 min)
Red :  000 min (06 x 10 min)
Green :  000 min (06 x 10 min)
Blue :  000 min (06 x 10 min)
Binning :  1x1 (Lum),  1x1 (RGB)

Image Scale:
0.73" per pixel

Temperatures:
Ambient : + 00.0 ° C
CCD Chip : - 00.0 ° C

Software:
CCDSoft V5.00.195
CCDStack V1.6.0.5
Photoshop CS2