Constellation of the Month: October
Andromeda (The Princess)

by: John Mirtle.
Page last updated: May 3, 2004

Contents
Small Scope Objects    Big Scope Objects    Challenge Objects    Maps    Photos

Small Scope Objects:

Name R.A. Decl. Details
  g And
(Almach)		 02hr 04m +42° 20' A colourful double star system, with a separation of 10 arc seconds in P.A. 63°. The primary star is mag. 2.2, golden yellow in colour. The secondary is mag. 5.1, a very contrasty greenish-blue.
  R And 00hr 24m +38° 34' A long period variable star, located a few degrees SW of M31. Varies from mag. 5.3 to 15.1 over a period of 409 days.
  M31!
(NGC 224)		 00hr 42.7m +41° 16' The "Andromeda Galaxy" - the brightest galaxy in the sky, at mag. 3.5. Located about 2.2 MLy away, covering 192 x 62 arcminutes of sky. The bright inner core is easily picked up naked eye from a dark site. Much of the galaxy is much fainter, requiring binoculars or a 'scope to see. Two dust lanes are easily visible in small scopes with good skies.
  M32
(NGC 221)		 00hr 42.7m +40° 52' Located slightly south of M31, this E2 galaxy glows brightly at mag. 8.2. Much smaller than M31 at 8.7 x 6 arc minutes, visible in the same low power field.
  M110
(NGC 205)		 00hr 40.4m +41° 41' Another bright mag 8 galaxy, located NNE of M31. An E5 peculiar, 22 x 11 arc minutes in size with lower surface brightness than M32.
  NGC 752 01hr 58m +37° 51' One of the finest open clusters, visible to the naked eye from a dark site. 49 arc minutes in diameter, or 1.5 moon diameters. A loose grouping of 60 stars, 8th magnitude and fainter. Total magnitude is 5.7.
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Big Scope Objects:

Name R.A. Decl. Details
  NGC 206 00hr 40m +40° 33' A huge star cloud near the SW tip of M31, about 2.5 x 4 arc min.
  NGC 404 01hr 09m +35° 43' An S03 galaxy, located almost on top of b And, which can make observing difficult. Use medium to high power to get b out of the field. Mag. 11.2, 3.4 arc minutes in diameter.
  NGC 891!! 02hr 22.6m +42° 21' A wonderful edge-on Sb spiral galaxy. Magnitude 12.2, 14 x 2.4 arc minutes in size. Larger 'scopes will show a bright central bulge, and a thin dust lane. (110NGC)
  NGC 7662!! 23hr 25.9m +42° 33' The "Blue Snowball" - a bright but small planetary nebula. About 17 arc seconds in diameter, mag 8.5. Look for a small bluish-green disk at high power with a 13.2 mag central star.(110NGC)
  NGC 7640 23hr 22m +40° 51' Another edge-on spiral galaxy, type SBc(s). Mag 12.5, 11 x 1.9 arc minutes in size.
  NGC 996 Group 02hr 39m +41° 39' A group of small 14-15th mag galaxies, arranged in a circle, about ¼° in diameter.
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Challenge Objects:

Name R.A. Decl. Details
  AGC 347 02hr 26m +41° 52' An easy (!) Abell galaxy cluster. 32 faint galaxies 13.3 and fainter, in an 86 arc minute field. Located ESE of NGC 891.
    . . Any Globular cluster associated with M31!
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Constellation Maps:

Lines No Lines Reverse Reverse No Lines


Lines No Lines Reverse Reverse No Lines No Map

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Photos:


 
Photo 1 - The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) with M32 'above' the nucleus
and NGC 205 (M110) 'below'. The bright star is n Andromeda.
South is at top to match the view in an inverting telescope.
Photo credit: John Mirtle.


 
Photo 2 - The edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 891.
South is at top to match the view in an inverting telescope.
Photo credit: John Mirtle.


 
Photo 3 - The planetary nebula NGC 7662.
South is at top to match the view in an inverting telescope.
Photo credit: John Mirtle.
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