The end of October provides an ideal opportunity to spot the ancient light of Andromeda Galaxy as it climbs overhead to light up the autumn night sky.
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Milky Waythe galaxy’s closest galactic neighbor, is about 2.5 million away light years of Earth in the constellation Andromeda. It can be found rising in the east at sunset before drifting high above midnight and shifting to the northwest sky as dawn approaches.
Andromeda’s vast spiral arms extend an incredible 260,000 light years and are home to more than a trillion stars, all orbiting a supermassive black hole embedded in the galactic core, which shines with the light of ancient red stellar bodies.
Andromeda is easily visible to the naked eye from a dark sky, taking the form of a hazy oval blur, while a telescope or binoculars will help reveal the light of its active luminous core surrounded by a diffuse haze of milky light.
How to find the Andromeda Galaxy
First, locate the “M” star formation in the constellation Cassiopeia, which appears above midnight for U.S. viewers. The three leftmost stars will form a pointer with the bright stellar body Shedar at its tip, guiding the path to the Andromeda Galaxy.
A favorite target for astrophotographers
The Andromeda Galaxy is a perennial favorite among astrophotographers, who spend a lot of time and energy collecting Andromeda’s faint light and transforming it into breathtaking galactic portraits.
A striking example comes from Ronald Brecher, who spent a total of 38 hours of Andromeda imagery in August and September earlier this year to reveal a wealth of star formation brightening spiral arm smothered by cosmic dust.
Thanks to astrophotography on smartphoneNow everyone can capture impressive shots of galaxies and nebulae. All you need is a phone, a telescope, and an inexpensive smartphone adapter to align the camera with the eyepiece.
Smartphone astronomy advocate Jim Preusse captured a stunning view of the Andromeda Galaxy using a Pixel 9 Pro smartphone camera mounted on a 56mm eyepiece on his Orion XT 10G telescope.
“The great thing about smartphone astrophotography is that anyone can do it,” Preusse told Space.com in an email. “Results come quickly, so you can view multiple targets in a single evening. Whether old favorites or new ones, every outing is an adventure with something new to see.”
Using only a 4 minute exposure in the Pixel 9 Pro Astro ModePreusse’s image revealed Andromeda’s glowing core and the vast bands of dust in its spiral arms. The small satellite galaxy M32 is also visible as a bright ball to the upper left of Andromeda’s core, while the elliptical galaxy Messier 110 is visible beneath its hazy disk.
Want to capture the post-sunset realm for yourself? So don’t forget to check out our beginner’s guide to astrophotographyas well as our summaries of best cameras And lenses for photographing the night sky.