NGC 5457, Tim Stone

NGC 5457

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

Only 20 million light years distant, M101 fills a patch of our sky almost as large as the full moon. Its low surface brightness, though, makes it a challenging object in small telescopes. It is a testament to Messier's dark skies, visual acuity, and observational skill that he could see it at all.

M101 is a glorious photographic object. It faces us directly, displaying its kinked arms in full grand spiral fashion. It has clearly recently been trifled with. There are a couple of galaxies in the vicinity which may have contributed to its distorted appearance. Behind them there are a plethora of background galaxies, ten to twenty times as distant.

Image acquired at Prairie Sky Observatory, a facility of Twin City Amateur Astronomers (tcaa.us).

Comments

Revisions

  • NGC 5457, Tim Stone
    Original
  • NGC 5457, Tim Stone
    B
  • NGC 5457, Tim Stone
    C
  • NGC 5457, Tim Stone
    D
  • Final
    NGC 5457, Tim Stone
    E

Histogram

NGC 5457, Tim Stone