Andromeda Galaxy - M31, M32, M110

Andromeda Galaxy - M31, M32, M110

Object Name Andromeda galaxy M31 including M32 and M110
Object Type Galaxies
Location Different locations in Arizona, USA
Date 7 nights between September 28th and October 31st, 2010
Media graphite pencil, white paper, digitally inverted
Equipment 16” f/4.5 Newtonian reflector (Meade Lightbridge), magnification of sketch is 70x
Observing conditions good to excellent, fst 7m0 on Mt Graham used for sketching the galaxy bodies with all structures

I sketched all 110 Messier objects when I was a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona in Tucson back in 2010. Sketching M31 with a 16” under dark skies means just a whole lot of work… However, despite the fact that this sketch required some 10 or so hours at the telescope spread over seven nights and some more hours to get in a vivid form, it is not the M-object that took me longest (this actually was M24).

Most interesting to me is the observable asymmetry of M31 and the tilted core. Pretty often, M31 is said to be disappointing. Well, when sky conditions are good, it is not!

Best regards,
Christian Weis
Scheidegg, Bavaria, Germany