M-81 (NGC-3031) is a grand design spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Ursa Major. It lies 12 million light years from Earth and is 90,000 light years in diameter. It is classified as a type SA(s)ab galaxy. It was discovered by Johann Bode in 1774 and it was listed in Messier's catalog in 1779 as number 81.
This image, acquired on January 21, 2014 is a 1 hour integration of 5 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/2 using the HyperStar III imaging system and the Starlight Express SXVR-H694C color CCD camera operating at -10 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. Guided,
captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient
XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.