Although classically considered a “grand design” spiral galaxy, M101's has a distinctly off center core and far flung spiral arms, likely from tidal interaction with some of its known satellite galaxies, like dwarf galaxy NGC 5477 at center left of the image. M101 has a diameter of 170,000 light-years and is 21 million light-years away.

Exposures: L:R:G:B=320:190:190:180 minutes=14hours 30 minutes total exposure at f/7.2,

This image was published in the March, 2020 issue of Astronomy magazine.