| Description: M108 is a barred spiral galaxy near the Plough in Ursa Major. It is unusual in that it has no evidence of a bulge or core to the galaxy (the object on the left is a foreground star), little evidence of a spiral pattern, and few HII regions. It is merely very dusty. At 45 million light years, it represents one of the closer galaxies to us, at approximately 20 times the distance of our closest large neighbour M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy).
Image information: 72 x 10s unfiltered exposures, stacked and combined. A mild unsharp mask (r=6, 25% and r=12, 25%) have been used to bring out detail. The image has been gamma enhanced for clarity and a very mild blur applied for noise. Image taken: 04/03/2007 22:45 UT. |
Physical information: mag. 10.6, size 8.6'x2.4', pa 80 deg, classification SBc, aka. NGC3556