M 74 is a beautiful example of a classic "grand design"
spiral galaxy seen face-on. It is located in the constellation
Pisces, and is 30 million light years away from earth. It is
95,000 light years across, and thus just a bit smaller than
our Milky Way galaxy.

Image data:
Camera: SBIG-4000XCM
Exposure: 225 minutes (15 minutes x 15)
Telescope: 10" Schmidt-Newtonian, Baader MPCC