M31 - the great Andromeda Galaxy, an Sb spiral.

This is the largest member of the Local Group, of which our own galaxy, the Milky Way is another large member. M31 is about 2.5 million light years away. It is consists of perhaps 200 billion stars. (Our sun is a typical star).

CCD image using ST7e camera with 135mm f3.5 camera lens.

LRGB composite. Exposures 30, 10, 12, 18 minutes