Andromeda Galaxy From Danville: Photo Of The Day

DANVILLE, CA - It's surreal to view an image that occurred 2.5 million years ago, when apelike creatures first started using stone tools, that has spent nearly all of history making its way over to Bob Schiff's telescope, looking so clear that it's right in front of us.

In that time, we've moved from crude stone tools to complex cameras and imaging software, which allowed Schiff to use new filters to better capture the nebulous gases floating in the foreground.

"The filters used for this capture are Hydrogen alpha (Ha), Luminance, Red, Green and Blue," he explained. "The filters are loaded into a filter wheel that is controlled by my scope’s imaging software. The software automatically rotates the wheel to the appropriate filter (10-30 images per filter).

"The Ha filter isolates light from ionized gas emitted by nebula (star forming regions) in distant galaxies. It is also used for imaging nebula closer to home in our own galaxy (e.g., the North America Nebula). I take up to 15-minute long exposures per frame when using this filter to capture the narrowband light emission. This requires very accurate guiding by the guide scope and mount."

Incredible! But even without all of that equipment, the galaxy is still sometimes visible to the naked eye on moonless nights, even from areas with moderate light pollution.

If you'd like to submit photos in or from Danville, email Michael.wittner@patch.com.