This is an image of the galaxy labled M101. I took this last month using an electronic astronomy camera called a CCD (Charged Coupled Device). The exposure was 4 minutes, but several images were taken, then staked together to produce a final image.

Amateur astronomy is a hobby of mine, and this is the first time I've taken a decent image of any galaxy. Sort of reminds me of Irwin Allan's "Lost In Space" TV show backgrounds. Of course he used images from CalTech's astronomy department back in the 60's.

At any rate...enjoy:)