Photo of the Week for March 2, 2018

Thanks to its northerly declination, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is visible from most of Canada at some point in the night, all year round. As winter draws to a close, you can catch M31 in the northwest in the early evening, and again at dawn as the galaxy rises in the northeast. In addition to its all-season status, the Andromeda Galaxy is renowned for being a splendid sight in any kind of telescope and in binoculars. It’s also a popular target for astrophotographers.

This wonderful M31 portrait was captured last September by Jean Guimond from Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud, near Montmagny, Quebec. The photo combines a total exposure of 5 hours, 25 minutes, captured through Astrodon (Gen2) LRGB filters with a Takahashi FSQ-106 refractor telescope fitted with 0.72× reducer (for a working f-ratio of f/3.6), and a SBIG STL-11000M CCD camera.