Bode’s Galaxy with his little buddy the Cigar

M81 (NGC 3031) Bodes Galaxy – grand design spiral galaxy
I tried many nights to capture this image and each night I was plagued with a different technical issue, to the point that I was beginning to think it was a jinx for me. I almost decided not to bother with it again. So glad I did though.
At roughly 12 million light years away, in the constellation Ursa Major, M 81 is beautiful grand design spiral galaxy. One of the brightest and easiest to locate it sits just off the tip of the spout of the Big Dipper. This image represents the “first light” of my new Sky Watcher Quattro 150p. Not disappointed.
Captured from my backyard in Delaware, Ont. Mar 19, 2023
Sky Watcher quattro 150p
Sky watcher HEQ5 pro
ASI533MC – p (@ -10 degrees, gain 101)
UV/IR filter
ASIair Plus, EAF
Exposures:
Lights 42 x 300 seconds, Darks, Flats, Biases
Stacked and processed in PixInsight and Photoshop