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 5477  ·  Pinwheel galaxy
Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), Menlo Astronomy
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Pinwheel Galaxy (M101)

Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), Menlo Astronomy
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Pinwheel Galaxy (M101)

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The Pinwheel Galaxy taken by Caroline Baccus.  This galaxy is in the constellation Ursa Major and is estimated to be about 21 million light-years from Earth. The Pinwheel Galaxy is the third-largest galaxy in the Local Group, after the Milky Way and Andromeda, and it is thought to be home to more than a trillion stars. The Pinwheel galaxy has many dense star-forming regions, known as “HII regions.” HII regions have copious amounts of Hydrogen and Helium, the main ingredients needed to form stars. In the yellowish center of the galaxy, very few stars are produced, and it is home to mostly older stars, like red giants. Interestingly, the Pinwheel galaxy does not have a large supermassive black hole at its core, instead, it has multiple small stellar-mass black holes.
- Learn more about the Pinwheel Galaxy
- Learn more about how to photograph the Pinwheel Galaxy.

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Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), Menlo Astronomy