images

Wide field view of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101)

by

D.De Martin/Novapix

Reference

a-gax54-57007

Date

2006-09-14

Catalogued as M101, the Pinwheel is a nice face-on spiral galaxy. It lies in the northern circumpolar constellation Ursa Major (The Big Bear), at a distance of about 25 million light-years from Earth. The bright blue star at right is 86 UMa, barely visible at the naked eye from a dark site. Also visible some other nice galaxies like NGC 5474 (below under M101), NGC 5473 (just above M101), NGC 5485 (at left edge), NGC 5422 (at top edge) and UGC 8837 (near 86 UMa, the bright star at bottom right). This image is based on data acquired by the Oschin Telescope at the Mount Palomar Observatory.