M101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, is a type Sc spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Ursa Major. The core of M101 is considerably off-center and is located approximately 27 million light-years from earth.

Image capture and processing information:

Date/Location: May 3, 2006, Lake Sonoma, Sonoma County, California
Instrument: Meade DSI II Pro through a Celestron CM-1100 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector using a Meade .33 focal reducer
Focal Ratio: f3.3
Guiding: Autoguided through a modified Orion ED100 refractor using a Philips Vesta Pro webcam (SC-Modified) with Guidedog software
Conditions: Visually clear
Weather: 57 F, Clear
Exposure: 10 minutes Luminance (20 x 30 seconds) and 5 minutes (10 x 30 seconds) on each color channel
Processing: Focused and captured with Meade Autostar Envisage. Image processed using Meade Autostar Image Processing and Microsoft Photo Editor