APOD 2.1

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap101028.html

Happy late Halloween! There is not much supernatural about Mirach's Ghost (as far as we know); it is a dwarf lenticular galaxy, which is a galaxy with a central bulge and disk, but no spiral arms, of type S0. The galaxy lies in the constellation Andromeda which is to the south of Cassiopeia. Although bright (10.1 visual magnitude), it is difficult to observe because of the glare from Mirach, one of Andromeda's 3 brightest stars and a red giant. There are a high proportion of red giants (stars with low surface temperature and tenuous surface tension) within the galaxy. Mirach's ghost is centered in the star field. Diffraction strike tends to dillute most earth-shot images.