Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  M 101  ·  NGC 5447  ·  NGC 5449  ·  NGC 5450  ·  NGC 5451  ·  NGC 5453  ·  NGC 5455  ·  NGC 5457  ·  NGC 5461  ·  NGC 5462  ·  NGC 5471  ·  NGC 5473  ·  NGC 5477  ·  Pinwheel galaxy
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M101 Pin Wheel Galaxy, Patrick Graham
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M101 Pin Wheel Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M101 Pin Wheel Galaxy, Patrick Graham
Powered byPixInsight

M101 Pin Wheel Galaxy

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Description

This image of M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, was taken at the Rockhound State Park which is about 10 miles east of Deming, New Mexico. Sky conditions were less than ideal as I was competing with a near full moon. After careful processing to try to eliminate the moon glow without sacraficing too much image detail, I was fairly happy with the end result. I do have an Optron L Enhance filter but for some reason forgot to add it to the imaging train. It's always something. If you don't zoom in too much, a lot of detail does show up in the dust lanes. I like the color that the Photometric color calibration in Pixnsight produce. Wikepedia states that this galaxy contains about 3 trillion stars, about twice the stars of our own Milky Way. The central core of M101 comes in at an impressive 3 billion solar masses. Overall, not a bad result. As always, comments and criticism are welcomed and encouraged.

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M101 Pin Wheel Galaxy, Patrick Graham