Friday, April 11, 2008

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy

My first attempt at M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major.
This is one of those objects that is difficult to see because it is quite big with a high surface area. I could not find it with my SkyWatcher 130m. I'm really pleased with my first attempt with a scope and equipment that is really working at it's limit. If you look carefully you can see another feint galaxy to the lower left of M101.
Conditions were not ideal when I took this image, a lot of hight cloud and light pollution, but I managed to filter out some of it to produce an acceptable image.