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.
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
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
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Last Modification: June 7, 1998