M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy

In the constellation Ursa Major.  ~21 million light-years from Earth and 170,000 ly in diameter.

~10.7 hours of exposure

Astro-Tech AT115EDT

This turned out to be a lucky night - I happened to catch a new Supernova in M101 the first night it was discovered!  SN 2023ixf.  This supernova will continue to brighten over the next few nights, and weather willing, I will capture a few more images.  SN 2023ixf is a Type 2 supernova - a rapid collapse and explosion of a massive star.  Bear in mind that this explosion happened 21 million years ago, but we are just seeing it now.