Finally some nice clear Moonless nights. Little cool, mid-50s at the start and low 40s in the mornings. The plan for the evening was some time on M31 through the SV555 and then to get grab Skywatcher USA November 2026 Target of the Month (TOTM), NGC 404. On thing about this time of year is it gets dark early so you can get started early.

Got the polar alignment dialed in. Removed the ZWO Dual Narrowband filter so took a minute to get focus. Spent a little time tinkering with PHD. I switched guide scopes some time back and just updated the focal length. So I ran the Guiding Assistant and then a calibration.

Primary (Imaging)	Secondary (Guiding)
Scope: SVBONY SV555 Astrophotography Telescope, 54mm f/4.5 (243mm Focal Length) Reducer/Flattener: None Filter: None Camera: ZWO ASI294 MC Pro, Cooled to 0 C Focuser: ZWO EAF Mount: Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro	Scope: SVBONY SV165 Guide Scope – 30mm, F/4 (120mm Focal length) Camera: Orion Star Shooter Autoguider (OSSAG)
Telescope Control, Image Acquisition, and Image Processing Software
Power: SVBONY SV241 Pro Power Management Box Equipment Control and Imaging Software: NINA/PHD2/ASCOM on a Mini-PC Processing Software: PixInsight

Messier 31 (M31), the Andromeda Galaxy, is the nearest galaxy to our Milky way… only about 2.5 Million light-years from Earth. The FOV include M32 and M110, both dwarf elliptical galaxies which are satellites of M31. This is a stack of 60 x 180 second exposures at 121 gain and 30 offset, stacked and processed with PixInsight.

There is a little something funky with my flats, but I still think this is one of the most detailed captures I have of the Andromeda Galaxy. The dust lanes are amazing… I may try to get some narrowband data to add to this.

Here is the annotated image:

NGC 404, also known as Mirach’s Ghost or the Lost Pearl Galaxy, is a dwarf lenticular galaxy about 10 million light-years away in the constellation of Andromeda. NGC 404 is also the November 2026 SkyWatcher Target of the Month (TOTM). This is 40 x 180 second exposures, gain 121, offset 30, stacked and processed with PixInsight.

The bright star is Mirach which is the brightest star in the Andromeda constellation (mag 2).

Sent the NGC 404 capture off to Skywatcher USA for the TOTM submission. It is the second one I have been able to submit this year. I didn’t get a patch for the last one, not sure why. So hopefully for this one. Otherwise there is only one more month for a shot at the 2026 TOTM patch.

Clear skies…