Messier 109 is a barred spiral located in Ursa Major, and the brightest galaxy of the M109 galaxy group. It has a radius of around 90,000 light years and contains an estimated 1 trillion stars. Charles Messier made note of the nebula, but it wasn't included in his original catalog. M104 through M110 were added later by other astronomers. Many distant background galaxies are in this view.
