Mirach and Mirach’s Ghost on Halloween

Mirach and Mirach's Ghost on Halloween, 2014.  42x60 sec @ ISO 800, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.
Mirach and Mirach’s Ghost on Halloween, 2014. 42×60 sec @ ISO 800, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.

An appropriately named object was chosen as an early evening test target on Halloween night, 2014.   Mirach is Beta Andromedae and it is a jump off point for finding M31 and M33.  Mirach’s Ghost is that small object very near Mirach that looks almost like a reflection glint of the bright star itself.   Nope, it is actually NGC 404, a small elliptical galaxy that just happens to lie in the same line of sight.

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