Charles Messier's list mistakenly recorded this galaxy in Ursa Major as M101 and M102, although the mistake was that of co-lister Mechain. A fairly large telescope is needed to see the spiral arms, as well as good night averted vision. They're not easy. It is a large galaxy and lies about fifteen million light years away. The image also shows NGC5477 above and to the right of the galaxy, and NGC5471, a bright nebula within M101, trying to look like a star.