M 81 (right) is one of the largest and brightest galaxies in the northern sky.
It is easily visible in binoculars, and a few astronomers have even seen it
with their naked eyes. Its neighbor is M 82. The two galaxies are locked in
a gravitational dance, rotating around each other every 100 million years or
so. They are separated from each other by only 150,000 light years, and a recent
close encounter between them has resulted in distorted dust lanes in M81, and in
explosive new star formation in M 82. Just below M 81 you can also see a faint,
irregular companion galaxy PGC 28757. These galaxies are about 12 million light years
from earth.

Image data:
Camera: Canon 350XT (modified)
Telescope: 10" Schmidt-Newtonian, Baader MPCC
Exposure: 41 x 5 minutes