Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  M 101  ·  NGC 5457  ·  NGC 5461  ·  NGC 5474  ·  NGC 5477
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M101 and companions, Jordi
M101 and companions
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M101 and companions

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M101 and companions, Jordi
M101 and companions
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M101 and companions

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Description

The Pinwheel Galaxy is located 21 million light-years (6.4 megaparsecs) from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. M101 is a large galaxy, with a diameter of 170,000 light-years. By comparison, the Milky Way has a diameter of 87,400 light-years. It has around a trillion stars. It has a disk mass on the order of 100 billion solar masses, along with a small central bulge of about 3 billion solar masses. Its characteristics can be compared to those of Andromeda Galaxy. M101 is asymmetrical due to the tidal forces from interactions with its companion galaxies.

- NGC 5474 is a peculiar dwarf galaxy. Among the Pinwheel Galaxy's companions, this galaxy is the closest to the Pinwheel Galaxy itself. The gravitational interaction between NGC 5474 and the Pinwheel Galaxy has strongly distorted the former. NGC 5474 shows some signs of a spiral structure. As a result, this galaxy is often classified as a dwarf spiral galaxy, a relatively rare group of dwarf galaxies.

- NGC 5477 is a dwarf galaxy located 20 million light years away from Earth

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M101 and companions, Jordi