M108 · Surfboard Galaxy
| Chinese name | 冲浪板星系 |
|---|---|
| Type | Galaxy |
| Constellation | UMa |
| RA | 11h12m |
| Dec | +55° |
| Apparent magnitude | 10ᵐ |
| Hemisphere | Northern |
| Best season | Spring |
| Difficulty | Hard |
| Focal length | 长焦 1000mm+ |
About
M108 lies about 46 million light-years away in Ursa Major and is a near-edge-on spiral galaxy. Its slender disk is mottled with dark dust clouds, bright stellar knots and H II regions yet lacks an obvious bulge, giving it the look of a floating surfboard. A member of the Ursa Major galaxy cloud, it shows active star formation and an X-ray-emitting halo of hot gas. It sits only about 0.75° from the famous Owl Nebula (M97) in the sky, so the two can share a frame as a classic Ursa Major pairing. Its low surface brightness rewards a long focal length and long exposures under dark skies to reveal the disk's complex texture.