Galactic Images Blog

Another nice clear night , on 04-11-09, but unfortunately the moon had risen too soon ending this 65 minute exposure of M101 Face on Spiral galaxy in Ursa Major(aka The Big Dipper).  The galaxy is visible in binoculars from a Dark location on a moonless night, but looks much better in a long exposure photograph.

I captured this spiral with my 5 Inch Newt. scope and a Canon Rebel Xsi set for ISO 400.  There is lots of faint outer spiral arms visible in this image along with many little red  HII regions in the arms.  Note all the little background galaxies nearby.

I’ll have to tackle this object again when I can get another clear moonless night, although its not bad for a 65 minute exposure.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

M101 Face on Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major

© 2009 John Chumack – Galactic Images

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 11:19 am and is filed under Beautiful Night Sky!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.