Spiral Galaxy
The spiral galaxy known as M 109 is located in the constellation of Ursa Major about 55 million light years from our
Milky Way galaxy.
It is the 109th object of the famous catalog compiled by Charles Messier who observed this galaxy in 1781.
This image is a composite from three black and white images taken with the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel
Oschin Telescope as a part of the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II). The images were recorded on three glass
photographic plates - one sensitive to blue light, one to red and the third to infrared light. The plates were scanned and color combined to produce
the image seen here.
M 109
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