What can I expect from M31 Andromeda galaxy.

[Galactosa]

Hello, I'm really new to astronomy and want to know what I should expect when I finally get to view the great Andromeda galaxy?

I have not managed to see it yet because after the sun has set, the view from my garden of the area where the galaxy will be is right next to a bright street light!

So far I have seen M81 and M82 which appear asa beautiful small areas of light in the eyepiece, will M31 be similar to these galaxies?

thank you

[Jon Sales]

M31 will be small and fuzzy, hence the term "faint and fuzzy".

It will be just a small grey smudge depending on the size of your scope.

[Moonshane]

if you like M81/2 (which I personally prefer to M31) then you'll like M31. it's a lot bigger so fills more than the average field and you see the core and haziness of the galaxy with one possibly two smaller satellite galaxies.

[redneon]

Also worth mentioning is M65 and M66 in the Leo Triplet. They're close together like M81 and M82 but I'd say they're a little more detailed.

[swamp thing]

TBH the view you get will depend more on the sky you are looking from than the scope you are using.

From any LP skies all you'll see is the inner core as a fuzzy glow. But from a dark sky. you can see the full extent of the spiral arms stretching accross the field of view. It's so big it fills the field of view with my 10x70 bins.

The dust lanes spiralling around it are visible in even medium sized scopes if the sky is a good dark one.

Regards Steve

[richbyers]

yeah in my 130 its a large hazy smudge, one of the best sights ive seen..much clearer than many others as can be expected with m31..though i had such dark skies i could see it with the naked eye...so depends really as people said

[umadog]

From somewhere very dark you can see this with the naked eye: http://www.deepskywatch.com/images/sketches/M31-Andromeda-galaxy-sketch.jpg

It will fill the field of view and you can see dust lanes. From somewhere light polluted it will look like a disappointing, small, featureless smudge.

[Galactosa]

Thanks for the response fellas,

I have seen the andromeda galaxy then by the sounds of things. I had read that you could see the spirals or arms from andromeda but what I saw was a hazy smudge which at first I thought might have been one of the satellite galaxies. My Garden is in a well lit area so I look forward to getting out into a dark spot and seeing the difference. M81 and M82 already look magnificent so it will be great to see the difference there too. M65 and M66 are faint whisps but that's what you expect from an object 36 million light years away!!

thanks again for the response