Scope: Celestron 9.25 Edge 235 mm at f/7, Location: Blair Valley, Anza Borrego Desert, CA   14 March 2015  Camera: ST8300M

Exposure: Exposure: 16 x 8 min  (2x2 bin) exposure with UV/IR block,  8 x 3 min (3x3 bin) RGB exposures.

Processing: Data Collection -  Sequence Generator Pro (as FITs).  Calibrated, stacked (Sigma Kappa Combine) in Deep Sky Stacker, L - RGB channel registration, equalization, central gradient removal - Astroart.  Curves, Levels, and Luminance development, RGB combine - Images Plus. Finishing  - Photoshop. Color calibration with eXcalibrator. This image is UV/IR Block for the Luminance channel and then a LRGB combine with Luminance layering.  Saturation in LAB color.   Final Image size processed at approximately 2400x1813 resized to 2400x1800.

North is down in this image.  This field  shows the barred spiral galaxy M109 (morphology SB(rs)bc). M109 is the dominant galaxy in the Ursa Major Galaxy Cloud also known as the M109 galaxy group. This field contains many other smaller galaxies most of which are background to M109 and not part of its namesake galaxy group.  Distance measurements vary from 51 to 74 million light years  for M109  but the most recent estimates put the distance at 74 million light years. At the largest (most recent) distance measurement and angular scale at that distance, M109 is a large galaxy spanning over 150,000 light years  in diameter. This makes M109 larger then our own Milky Way.  The smaller galaxies are identified  and highlighted in the annotated image.  This image replaces an earlier image that can be seen in the archives here.  The Horizontal FOV is 38'

Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 11h 57m 34s Dec: +53°19'43"