This face on spiral galaxy in Ursa Major lies only a few degrees from the handle of the Big Dipper asterism, and is so large it fills the field of the CCD. A yellow core of population 1 stars, is surrounded by the blue population 2 arms, dotted with hundreds of pink hydrogen clouds recorded here as pink. Reprocessing older images with new techniques is common with the digital darkroom. Here I have achieved what I belive to be better color balance, and a sharper image with more fine detail.

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian
CCD Camera:  SBIG ST7E
Exposure:  LRGB = 130:20:20:40 (RGB Binned 2x2)
Filters:  RGB Tricolor
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing 8/10, Transparency 8/10
Outside Temperature:  50 F
CCD Temperature:  -20 F
Processing:  Maxim DL, Photoshop, PW Pro