Messier 109 was listed by Charles Messier as the 109th object on his list of "things that are not
comets" in 1783. Also known as NGC 3992, M109 is what is known as a barred spiral galaxy, near the
star Phecda in the bowl of the Big Dipper and is the most distant of the Messier objects. M109 is
the brightest of the three dozen or so galaxies that are part of the "M109 (or NGC 3992) group" in
the region of the Big Dipper/Ursa Major. Charles Messier was an avid comet hunter (and successful -
he discovered 13) who compiled a list of objects that could be confused with comets and shared his
list with other astronomers of the day. The 110 mostly northern hemisphere objects remain popular
with amateur astronomers today as most are fairly bright and easily observed in amateur sized
telescopes. If you attend a public stargaze put on by amateur astronomers on a moonless night,
you will almost certainly be treated to views of objects from the Messier list.
Taken with a non-modded 6D and 8 inch f/5 Newtonian. 13x60seconds, ISO6400, unguided.
This image is my first attempt with PixInsight, learning with a trial license.

* Replaced image with what looks like a better one after playing with PixInsight some more.4-8-14