Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  M 101  ·  NGC 5455  ·  NGC 5457  ·  NGC 5461  ·  NGC 5471
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy, Jens Andersen Dolmer
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy, Jens Andersen Dolmer
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

Messier 101 (M101), also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The Pinwheel Galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 7.86 and lies at a distance of 20.9 million light years from Earth. It has the designation NGC 5457 in the New General Catalogue.

The galaxy appears face-on and occupies an area of 28.8 by 26.9 arc minutes of apparent sky, which corresponds to a linear diameter of about 170,000 light years. The galaxy is quite large, but has a low surface brightness and requires exceptionally clear, moonless skies to be seen, even in medium-sized telescopes.

Comments

Revisions

  • M101 Pinwheel Galaxy, Jens Andersen Dolmer
    Original
  • Final
    M101 Pinwheel Galaxy, Jens Andersen Dolmer
    E

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy, Jens Andersen Dolmer