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  ·  NGC 5484  ·  NGC 5485  ·  Pinwheel galaxy
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M101 Pinwheel Galaxy #5, Molly Wakeling
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Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy #5, Molly Wakeling
Powered byPixInsight

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Description

Galaxy M101! Taken with my new Takahashi under the dark Texas Star Party skies
This one proved a bit tricky - my red frames ended up out of focus, and the light pollution from the oil fields to the north is real - but still a lot better than I can do from home!
M101 is a spiral galaxy up off the end of the handle of the Big Dipper, although much farther behind it - 21 million lightyears! There are several other galaxies to spot in the picture if you look carefully. It was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Mechain, and Charles Messier added it to his catalog. Although it's only about two-thirds the size of the Milky Way, it contains about twice as many stars - over a trillion!

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M101 Pinwheel Galaxy #5, Molly Wakeling

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