Bodes Galaxy - M81

So, this is an interesting one. I have really only imaged a few galaxies now, but this galaxy was the very first galaxy I chose to try and image in 2020.

This galaxy is called Bodes Galaxy. OK, this image is my latest image of Bodes and was from 2023 but my very first attempt at imaging this galaxy was amazing.

Bodes galaxy or Messier 81 is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a diameter of around 90,000 light years.

It was a cold ish winter in 2021 and I remember setting up my astronomy equipment as normal, dragon my heavy telescope mount outside, attached the actual telescope, the Skywatcher 200P OTA (Optical tube assembly) and connection my cameras up to each relevant part of the optical train.

I had a small guide cam, a small uncooled astronomy camera and some software, at the time I did have some of the equipment I have now, but it was adequate at the time, and essentially it still allowed me to take images of space, which is why we are all here...