Object Information:                   Messier 101 [M 101]
                                                 Mag. - 7.9v
                                                 Galaxy Type - SAB (rs) cd I
                                                 Constellation - Ursa Major
                                                 Distance -  23 million light years

Description:   Messier 101 is the largest member of a small galaxy cluster located 23 million light years distant.  Messier 101 shines with the luminosity of 33 billion suns.  Messier 101's size is estimated to be 190,000 light years across.

Imaged at:                                Luminance - Mt. Laguna, San Diego County, California; Elevation - 5500 feet

                                                RGB - Near Desert Center, Riverside County, California; Elevation - 600 feet

Equipment:                              Optics - Takahashi MT-160 at f/6.3
                                               Mount - Astro-Physics 900 GTO,
                                               Camera - Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) ST-7E NABG CCD,
                                               Focal Reducer/Field Flattener - None,

Guider:                                    SBIG STV

Exposure Information:             Luminance - April 13, 2002; Sum of twenty 300 sec. exposures = 100 min. total;

                                                RGB - April 25, 2003 - Red = 3 x 10 min, Green - 3 x 10 min, Blue 3 x 16 min.

Image Acquisition Software:    CCD Soft Version 5,

Image Processing Software:     AIP for Windows - Dark subtraction,  MIRA 6 - image stacking, registration, and stacking; Photoshop 6 - final processing.

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