Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this Galaxy was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe -- a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Along with a bright central core, this colorful composite image highlights youthful blue star clusters and reddish stellar nurseries tracing the galaxy's spiral arms.

Date: May and June 2009
Location: St. Augustine, Florida
Optics: Ritchey-Chretien 10" f/7.35
Mount: AP 1200 GTO on Portable Pier
Camera: SBIG STl-6303E
Guiding: Astrodon OAG with Starlight Lodestar camera
Exposure: LRGB: Luminance: 12x15 minutes; RGB: 8x15 Minutes each
Processing: CCDStack and PhotoshopCS4