Messier 109 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, 83.5 million light-years from Earth. It is estimated to contain 1 trillion stars and is the brightest member of the Messier 109 Group, a group of 79 galaxies in Ursa Major. Charles Messier, the 18th century French astronomer, catalogued over 100 galaxies and clusters. Through the telescopes available at the time, comets, nebulae, globular clusters and galaxies appeared just as faint, diffuse blobs. This image was taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope.