M97, The Owl Nebula, is one of four planetary neblae in the Messier catalog. The central star is a 110000 degrees hot mag 16 star of about 0.6 to 0.7 solar masses producing abundant radiation blowing away material ejected thousands of years ago. The PN has a triple shell structure consisting of a double shell which is the "head" of the owl, and a much fainter outer shell which is more rarely visible in photos, ejected while the star was in its red-giant phase. The nebula itself contains about 0.15 solar masses. While M97 is fairly close, between 1300 and 12000 light-years distant, its neighbour in this FOV is about 45 million lighy-ears away. The M108 contains an estimated 125 billion solar masses and is a barred spiral galaxy seen almost edge-on. The Chandra X-ray Observatory has identified 83 X-ray sources in the galaxy among which the strongest source in the galaxy's nucleus is believed to be a intermediate-mass black hole. The M97 and M108 are situated in the constellation of Ursa Major.
Optics: Vixen R200SS 8"; f/4 MPCC
Camera: QSI 583wsg
Guider: Lodestar via OAG
Mount: EM-200 Temma 2m
Exposure: L:12x20min, R:6x20min, G:7x20min, B:10x20 +Darks, Flats
Filters: Astrodon RGB gen II
Photographed from Ytre Enebakk/Norway, March 2012