Andromeda Galaxy

The nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way at roughly 2.5 million light-years, and the largest member of the Local Group. M31 spans over 3° on the sky — six full-Moon widths — and is one of the few deep-sky objects visible to the naked eye from a dark site. It’s on a collision course with our own galaxy, due to merge in about 4.5 billion years. Longer exposures reveal the vast halo of faint stars and satellite galaxies (M32 and M110) orbiting around it.

This version has a deliberate warm red tint — a bit of artistic licence in the processing rather than going for strict colour accuracy.