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Shooting the Andromeda Galaxy

The next slides show how to do it with only a camera + fixed tripod

They also show how to find the galaxy with the naked eye

It is the furthest object just visible to the naked eye,
2.5 million light years away

A light year is a measure of distance - it takes light 1 year to traverse

So we see the Andromeda Galaxy as it was 2.5 million years ago

The Andromeda Galaxy is the 31st entry in Charles Messier's 18th century catalogue of faint fuzzy objects. So it is known as M31

You may remember from schooldays that light travels 186,000 miles (300,000 km) in one second. So the distance it travels in a year is huge - hard to comprehend. The nearest star to us (apart from the Sun) is about 4 light years away. If you were able to drive there by car at a steady 100mph it would take more than 40 million years to get there! The Andromeda Galaxy is getting on for a million times that distance away!

The Messier catalogue of just over 100 objects is a useful one for beginners to use as a check list of things to see and/or photograph.

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