Messier 81, also known as Bode's Galaxy, is a class Sb spiral galaxy lying 11.7 million light-years from Earth. Despite its classic spiral appearance, it contains hints of a "recent" (in cosmological terms) disruptive interaction with another galaxy: namely, the three parallel, nearly straight dust lanes visible just to the left of the nucleus. The responsible interaction likely occurred with neighboring galaxy Messier 82, the Cigar Galaxy, which came out of the interaction far more disrupted than Messier 81. The irregular dwarf satellite galaxy Holmberg IX, described by Swedish astronomer Erik Holmberg, is visible to the lower right of Messier 81. It is analogous to one of our Magellanic clouds. 

Telescope/mount: CDK17 on L-500 series moun

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B = 135:400:90:90:85 minutes = 13 hours, 20 minutes total exposure, unguided.