This large and bright barred spiral galaxy in Leo didn't make it into the Messier catalog - go figure. It's listed at visual magnitude 9 and 12 arc-minutes in size, so it's easily visible in amateur scopes. This image shows the distinctive bar in the core, along with a suggestion of the "hot spots" in the core - spots that are resolved by the Hubble as star clusters. The image was captured from Anza, CA during two nights in December 2011 and February 2012 using a 10-inch Meade SCT and SBIG ST-2000XM camera. The final LRGB image represents just over 10 hours of exposure.