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The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, and is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, but not the closest galaxy overall. It gets its name from the area of the sky in which it appears, the Andromeda constellation, which was named after the mythological princess Andromeda. Andromeda is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which consists of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way, the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies. Although the largest, Andromeda may not be the most massive, as recent findings suggest that the Milky Way contains more dark matter and may be the most massive in the grouping. The 2006 observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that M31 contains one trillion stars at least twice more than the number of stars in our own galaxy, which is estimated to be c. 200–400 billion.
Andromeda is estimated to be 7.1×1011 solar masses. In comparison a 2009 study estimated that the Milky Way and Andromeda are about equal in mass, while a 2006 study put the mass of the Milky Way at ~80% of the mass of Andromeda. The Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way are expected to collide in perhaps 4.5 billion years.

At an apparent magnitude of 3.4, the Andromeda Galaxy is notable for being one of the brightest Messier objects, making it visible to the naked eye on moonless nights even when viewed from areas with moderate light pollution. Although it appears more than six times as wide as the full Moon when photographed through a larger telescope, only the brighter central region is visible to the naked eye or when viewed using a binoculars or a small telescope.

NGC 281 is an H II region in the constellation of Cassiopeia and part of the Perseus Spiral Arm. It includes the open cluster IC 1590, the multiple star HD 5005, and several Bok globules. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character.
The nebula was discovered in August 1883 by E. E. Barnard, who described it as "a large faint nebula, very diffuse." The multiple star HD 5005, also called β1, was discovered by S. W. Burnham. It consists of an 8th-magnitude primary with four companions at distances between 1.4 and 15.7 seconds of arc. There has been no appreciable change in this quintuple system since the first measurements were made in 1875.

This is a 14 hour RGB only exposure, 56, 15min RGB sub frames of the region of space around the Bubble Nebula (NGC7635) The region displays an extensive background of faint interstellar gas and dust, plus some very dark dust clouds, which eventually may form into stars. In the lower right is another bright emission nebula (NGC7538) plus a few other small emissions such as SH2-159. Located at center top of the image frame is open cluster Messier 52. The region is located on the Cassiopeia-Cepheus border

Telescope - Takahashi FSQ106ED @ f5
Mount - Celestron CGE PRO
Camera - Starlight Xpress SXVF-M25C one shot color RGB
Sequence - 56, 15min frames - 14 hrs total exposure
Software - Maxim DL and CS5, Noel's Tools