The Great Andromeda Galaxy

M31, the Great Andromeda Galaxy, is the largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes our Milky Way galaxy.   It stretches 130,000 light years across and contains approximately 300 billion stars.  It's distance from us is 2.9 million light years.  It is visible to the unaided eye when viewed from a dark site and it's apparent size is larger than the full moon.  M32, above left, and M110, below right, are companion elliptical galaxies to M31.  Yellow older stars predominate in the central region and blue younger stars are in the outer arms.  A massive black hole probably resides in the core.

Film:     Kodak PPF 120        Exposure:     2 x 60 min.        Equipment:     AP 155  f7

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