Galaxy M81 in Ursa Major

A nice SB type barred spiral galaxy located at a distance of some 7 million light years. The galaxy's size is about 20,000 light years by 36,000 light years. This is avery dense galaxy with a third of the mass in the central hub.

This galaxy is paired with M82; M82 being only 38' away. They form the nucleus of a small group of galaxies beyond the local group. Put the mouse over the image to show both.

Images taken with TEC-140 Telescope mounted on Losmandy G11 mount. Camera used was a Canon EOS20D used at prime focus.

Fifteen 3 minutes exposures dark compensated, aligned and stacked, background removed and Digitaly Developed in ImagesPlus 2.75. Also processed via Neat Image to remove noise.