[M109, W. Keel]

The bright spiral galaxy Messier 109, shown from a yellow-light (V-band) CCD exposure with an RCA CCD at the 1.1-meter Hall telescope of Lowell Observatory. North is at the top and east to the left, for direct comparison with a chart or eyepiece view. This display uses a logarithmic intensity transformation to preserve information across a wide dynamic range. The field is 3.6 by 6.0 arcminutes, which doesn't cover the whole galaxy (the bigger TI CCDs had gone to Australia at the time, to support observations of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact). The image was obtained in April 1994 by Bill Keel and Anatoly Zasov.

This galaxy shows an intriguing wealth of structure, including a central bar, almost complete surrounding ring, and outer arms which launch outward from dust lanes spiralling through the ring. Visually, this is one of the easier galaxies of its magnitude to find, lying 1.2 degree southeast of Gamma Ursae Majoris in the bowl of the Big Dipper.

  • More images from Bill Keel

    [M109, AOP/KPNO Visitor Center]
    Click for full-size image

    Barred spiral galaxy M109, as photographed by Adam Block of the Kitt Peak Visitor Center's Advanced Observing Program. In this galaxy, both the central nucleus and outer arms are fairly smooth- devoid of (reddish) hotspots of star formation. Some detail is well visible in the bluer arms, while the nuclear region looks more yellow because of its older stellar population. This image is a composite of four CCD images, taken with the AOP's Meade 16in LX200 telescope operating at f/6.3 and SBIG ST8E CCD camera with color filter wheel: Luminance, L=50 min, Red, R=20 min, Green, G=20 min, Blue, B=40 min.
    Credit: Adam Block/AURA/NOAO/NSF

  • Adam Block's M109 page with more info on this image
  • More images from the Advanced Observer Program

    [M109, KPNO 0.9-m, NOAO]

    This image shows M109, a type SBc barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. M109 is around 40 to 50 million light years away in a loose galaxy grouping (the Ursa Major cloud) which also includes M108. This picture was created from observations using the T2KA CCD camera at the Kitt Peak National Observatory's 0.9-meter telescope in January of 1997.
    Credit: AURA/NOAO/NSF

  • More information on this image (N.A. Sharp, NOAO)
  • More AURA/NOAO images

    [M109, from Usenet]

    Found on Usenet..

  • Amateur images of M109

    Hartmut Frommert (spider@seds.org)
    Christine Kronberg (smil@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

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    Last Modification: 7 Jun 1998, 16:45 MET