The Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

Andromeda is such a lovely sight. Absolutely huge, too, 6 times wider than the full moon in the sky. Every time I return to Andromeda, I fight a battle with myself about which part to capture, but the contrast between the dust lanes and the gleaming core seems to always win for me.

Similar to the Orion Nebula, Andromeda has a mix of really bright and very faint areas. Amplifying the dimmer parts of the image without causing the bright core of the galaxy to clip is a battle.

All of the individual stars in this photo are between us and Andromeda, in our own Milky Way. Andromeda is too far away for my optics to make out individual stars.