Messier 31 - Andromeda Galaxy

From NASA: M31 is located in the constellation Andromeda and is best observed in November. Boasting an apparent magnitude of 3.1, the galaxy can be seen with the naked eye, even in areas with moderate light pollution. Because it is such an easily observed feature in the night sky, it is impossible to say who discovered the Andromeda galaxy. However, Persian astronomer Abd al-rahman al-Sufi’s The Book of Fixed Stars from the year 964 contains the first known report of the object.

Imagers Notes: This is one of my first astrophotographs. I was completely blown away by what I had captured and is most definitely one of the images that got me hooked on the hobby. This is a target you can start with using just a camera and a tripod. In general, most lenses will be able to capture it as it is so close (relatively), bright, and large in the sky.

2 different processing attempts on the same data are presented here.