by John Bishop
Messier 51, an interacting grand design spiral galaxy 23 million light-years distant in Ursa Major, February 6, 2010, from Mineral, Texas. 16-inch Meade RCX400 at f/8, four 6 minute exposures at iso 1600 with a spectrum modified cooled Canon 40D, processed in MaxIm DL and Photoshop.