Triangulum Galaxy

About the object

The Triangulum Galaxy, the third largest in our Local Group after Andromeda and the Milky Way. We see it almost face-on, so the spiral arms are spread across the whole disk, dotted with pink star-forming regions; the largest of them, NGC 604, is one of the biggest nebulae known. The galaxy's light is smeared over an area larger than the Moon, and its low surface brightness makes it one of the hardest targets for a city.

Distance: about 2.7 million light-years, apparent size in the sky: 70′ × 40′, constellation Triangulum.

How it was shot

Everything here was shot with a DWARF Mini smart telescope from a balcony in a city in Ukraine: light-polluted sky, only the eastern half of it visible, and a roof overhang that cuts off the south. 6 nights (1 night in August, 3 in September and 2 in October), 7 sessions, 1,151 frames with exposures of 15 and 30 s, without a filter, in broadband. The stack holds 7 h 50 min of light; the longest night, 2 October, gave 2 h 7 min. The goal for this object is 8 h, 97% done so far. First night 26 August 2026, last one 8 October 2026.

Triangulum Galaxy in the night log: 25 August, 17 September, 18 September, 19 September, 2 October, 7 October.

How it went

Triangulum showed what low surface brightness means in a city: seven sessions over five nights, more than seven hours of light, and the arms still barely rise above the background. After midnight, when the street lights switch off, the sky gets more than twice as dark, and those are the frames that carry the result. The series is closed: a few more nights would add little, so this frame is final for the season.