A very popular target in astrophotography M 81 is a grand design spiral galaxy shining brightly 12 million light years away in Ursa Major. The galaxy has a very active galactic nucleus and due to it relative proximity and brightness has been studied extensively. Several billion years ago it is thought to have interacted with M82.
Imaged in LRGB and H Alpha at SRO, OTA PlaneWave CDK 14.
Image Processing: Mike Selby