M109

M109 is a barred spiral galaxy that is located about 85 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Major.  It is the brightest galaxy in the M109 galaxy group, a loose group that probably contains about 80 galaxies.  This galaxy has a limited amount of star formation regions in its outer areas and has a low surface brightness.  Some Ha data might add some value to this image but that is questionable.

Several additional galaxies can be seen in this image including 15.4 magnitude PGC37700 at the 2:00 position and 16.7 magnitude PGC37621 at the 5:00 position.  These are likely part of the galaxy group.  If you look closely, you will see several other, dimmer galaxies as well.