M81 Bode’s Galaxy in Ursa Major

Messi­er 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode’s Galaxy) is a grand design spir­al galaxy about 12 mil­lion light-years away, with a dia­met­er of 90,000 light years, in the con­stel­la­tion Ursa Major. M81 was first dis­covered by Johann Elert Bode on 31 Decem­ber 1774. Thus, it is some­times referred to as “Bode’s Galaxy”.

The galaxy lies in a region with dense Inter­galactic Flux (IFN) which can be seen in the back­ground. Left to M81, the irreg­u­lar galaxy Holmberg IX can be seen, a satel­lite galaxy of Messi­er 81.

[descrip­tion from wikipedia]

Details

Tele­scope:
RCOS 14.5″ f/​8
Mount:
ASA DDM85
Cam­era:
Apo­gee U16M
Fil­ters:
Astro­don Gen2
Expos­ure:
LRGB 400:300:240:280 min.
Loc­a­tion:
ROSA Remote Obser­vat­or­ies South­ern Alps
Author:
© Mar­tin Ruster­holz, Astrophotographer

Find­er M81 Bode’s Galaxy in Ursa Major

M81 Galaxy Sky Chart Astrophotography Martin Rusterholz

Image cre­ated by Skychart

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About Me

Hello, my name is Martin Rusterholz. I’m a Swiss amateur astrophotographer living near Zurich, the biggest town in Switzerland. My interest in astronomy started when I was 16. At that time, I built my first Newtonian telescope and mount. I studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) which was the only study including at least some aspects of astronomy and astrophysics. “Looking at the nights sky is an experience touching everybody deeply inside, something common to all human beings independent to the language spoken by the individuals”. Deep-sky astrophotography is my passion.

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