M109

DETAILS: Imaged in March 2005 with a 12.5" RCOS Truss Ritchey Chretien at f6.8 on an ME Robotic German Equatorial mount with an SBIG ST-10XME camera. Three hours of unbinned luminance data combined with 60 minutes each of RGB taken through Tru-Balance filters. Processed with RegiStar, MaxIm DL, CCDSharp, and Photoshop CS.

COMMENTARY: M109 is a classic barred spiral galaxy in the Constellation Ursa Major some 55 million light-years distant. It has a prominent central bar with distinct, delicate and graceful spiral arms. It is a member of the Ursa Major Cloud (Cluster), a giant but loose agglomeration of some 79 or so galaxies.