A beautiful, face-on spiral galaxy seen behind a dense, star field. Note the narrow bar structure in the core which connects to the thin, dark, pencil-like arms just above, and below the core. The magenta colored patches in the spiral arms are HII regions.

12 1/2″ Ritchey-Chretien Telescope with a ST10XE/CFW8. F/7 LRGB(38/7minBW,5/5min2x2 bin RG, 8/5min 2×2 bin B).