11/09/2018 – Ephemeris – The Great Andromeda Galaxy

Ephemeris for Friday, November 9th. The Sun will rise at 7:31. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:21. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 7:03 this evening.

In the south at 9, this evening can be found a large square of stars, the Great Square of Pegasus the flying horse, flying upside down to the right. What looks like its hind legs stretching to the left from the upper left corner star is another constellation, Andromeda the chained princess. She is seen in the sky as two diverging curved strings of stars that curve upward. She was rescued by the hero Perseus, a nearby constellation, riding Pegasus. Andromeda’s claim to astronomical fame is the large galaxy seen with the unaided eye just above the upper line of stars. The Great Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years away. To the naked eye the galaxy appears as a small smudge of light. In binoculars the galaxy is a delicate spindle of light.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Great Andromeda Galaxy finder chart. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.

The Great Andromeda Galaxy (M31) with two of its satellite galaxies M32 and M110. Image taken by Scott Anttila.