M81 (also called NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) and M82 (also called NGC 3034 or the Cigar Galaxy) are galaxies about 12 million light-years away. M81 is a spiral galaxy and M82 is a starburst galaxy where a Type 1a supernova occurred in January, 2014.

Technical Information
Date:                        March, 2014
Location:                  Green Valley, Arizona
Telescope:               Takahashi FSQ-106EDX
Camera:                   SBIG STT-8300M
Filters:                      Astrodon Gen 2
Mount:                      AstroPhysics 1200
Exposure:                 LRGB = 390:120:120:120 minutes, all unbinned
Software:                  Acquisition: Maxim DL 5, TheSkyX, Pinpoint, CCD Commander
                                  Processing: CCDStack, PhotoShop CS6 with various plugins
M81 & M82