The journey through the constellation of Ursa Major (Big Dipper) takes us to a face-on galaxy located some 21 million light years away from Earth. Meet the Pinwheel Galaxy, which is catalogued as Messier 101 or M101. Messier 101 can be located by forming somewhat of an equilateral triangle to the south of the bright stars Alkaid and Mizar in the handle of the Big Dipper (see video). It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781, and has a relatively large magnitude in the night sky with a radius measuring around 85,000 lights across.
Gear: Omegon RC6, AA Hypercam 26c, iOptron HEM27, Svbony 120mm guide scope + ZWO ASI120mc.
Exif: 33 x 5-min lights; Gain 200, Offset 3, TEC @ 10 degrees; 20 darks, 20 flats, 20 dark flats
SharpCap, PHD2; AstroPixelProcessor, PixInsight; Photoshop