Sitting roughly 12 million light years (MLY) away in the constellation Ursa Major, this image features the spiral galaxy M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and the starburst galaxy M82 (Cigar Galaxy).
2021-03-07 & 2021-03-20 | WO Zenithstar 61ii 360mm | Nikon D750 | 2 hrs, 51 min exposure
While generally not visible with the naked eye (except perhaps under ideal dark sky conditions), these targets can be seen as is the case here, using a small telescope. While considered a fairly large galaxy, Bode’s is nevertheless only about half the size of our own Milky Way.
Astrometric annotations for above image courtesy of Astrometry.net
Also seen in the image at a distance of 12.8 MLY is the elliptical galaxy NGC 3077 (Garland Galaxy) and at 11.6 MLY the dwarf galaxy NGC 2976.
