NGC 891 in Andromeda is one of the primo edge-on galaxies in the Late Summer/Fall skies. It is big but faint, with a visual magnitude of 10 and an apparent size of 13.5 x 2.8 arc minutes. It is estimated to be 10 million light years away.
It was discovered by William Herschel in Oct 1784. It is famous for the prominent dark lane that runs right down the middle.

Imaging data:
Date: Oct 4,6,7,9,10, 2008
Location: New Ringgold PA
Optics: Meade LX200R 12 inch at f/10
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-8XME / CFW-8
Guiding: Orion StarShoot Autoguider in the piggyback NP101 controlled by Maxim CCD
Exposure: LRGB: Luminance: 65 minutes unbinned, with 5 min subs; R: 65 min with 5 min subs, G: 32 minutes with 4 min subs, B: 40 min with 5 min subs for a total of 3 hours 22 minutes
Processing: Image acquisition using CCD Autopilot. Initial processing was done using Maxim DL with subsequent processing with Photoshop. This was the first image that I used Photoshop layer masks to bring out the faint detail in the galaxy. I want to thank Chris Abissi for his help and encouragement as I learned this technique!