M 109 - The Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy

M109 is the brightest galaxy in the M109 Group, a large group of galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major that may contain over 50 members.

M109 has three satellite galaxies (UGC 6923, UGC 6940 and UGC 6969) and possibly might have more. M109's H I (neutral atomic Hydrogen) distribution is regular with a low-level radial extension outside the stellar disc, while at exactly the region of the bar, there is a central H I hole in the gas distribution. Possibly the gas has been transported inwards by the bar, and because of the emptiness of the hole no large accretion events can have happened in the recent past.

This is an example image for a fairly unknown technique of astrophotography, DeepSky Lucky Imaging. Take a fast telescope, a highly sensitive camera and 1000s of short exposures without guiding. Use the Deconvolution process to restore some of the remaining seeing smear.

Photographed from Heidelberg, Germany under Bortle 7 conditions.