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• RA: 14:03.2
• Dec: +54:21
• Magnitude: 7.9
• Distance: 27,000,000 ly
• Size:  22.0 arc min
• Constellation:  Ursa Major

• Scope: 8" SCT at f/10
• Autoguider:  ST-4 in faint mode
• Sky conditions:  good transparency and good seeing
• Camera: Hutech modified Canon 300D
• Exposure:  6 x 10 minutes ISO800
• Date:  May 18, 2007

Comments:  Temperature was in the mid 30s.  Even though it was chilly for this time of year, the night was very nice. The best transparency and seeing we have had in a couple of months. The framing of the shot could have been better, but was driven by finding a suitable guidestar quickly. M101 was among the first "spiral nebulae" identified as such by William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse.  It is the brightest of a group of at least 9 galaxies.  On photographs M101 is revealed as one of the most prominent Grand Design spirals in the sky.  While quite symmetric visually and in very short exposures which show only the central region, it is of remarkable unsymmetry with its core being displaced from the center of the disk and has been noted as a "Spiral with One Heavy Arm".