Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  M 109  ·  NGC 3992
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M109 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major, Hap Griffin
M109 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major
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M109 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major

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M109 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major, Hap Griffin
M109 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major
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M109 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major

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Description

Here is M109...a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. M109, at 74.7 million light years distance, is the farthest of all of the 110 objects in Charles Messier's catalog of objects that could be mistaken in the 1700's for comets. It is a huge galaxy...165,000 light years across...nearly double the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. It is a class of galaxy known as a barred spiral, with a very prominent bar spanning its middle and with five massive spiral arms. M109 even has several dwarf companion galaxies caught in its gravitational pull...UGC 6969 seen here at the lower left and UGC 6940 at the lower right. The bright blue star to the right of M109 is SAO 28199, a foreground star within our own galaxy. M109 is receding from us at a rate of over 1000 km per second.

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M109 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major, Hap Griffin