Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, is a large, face-on “grand design” spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, cataloged as NGC 5457.
Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, is a large, face-on “grand design” spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, cataloged as NGC 5457. Distance estimates generally cluster around 21-25 million light-years, and at that distance its roughly 170,000-light-year diameter makes it noticeably larger than the Milky Way. Gravitational interactions with several smaller companion galaxies have given its spiral arms an asymmetric, slightly lopsided structure, and its arms are richly dotted with star-forming HII regions. M101 has hosted several observed supernovae, including the well-studied SN 2011fe. For astrophotographers it is a favorite luminance/RGB target, rewarding long integration time to resolve the delicate spiral structure and pink-tinged star-forming knots strung along its arms against a relatively faint overall surface brightness.
[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinwheel_Galaxy]
[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinwheel_Galaxy]
M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy
Exposure 301 sec exposure
ISO 800
Camera Nikon D800 [7360 x 4912]
Optics Prime focus of a 10" Meade SCT f/10, 2500 mm focal length on a Celestron CGEM DX mount.
Location Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia.
Date 2018-05-01
Processing Captured using Kstars EKOS 2.9.5 and indilib v1.7.0. Processed in PixInsight and tweaked in Lightroom.
Exposure 301 sec exposure
ISO 800
Camera Nikon D800 [7360 x 4912]
Optics Prime focus of a 10" Meade SCT f/10, 2500 mm focal length on a Celestron CGEM DX mount.
Location Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia.
Date 2018-05-01
Processing Captured using Kstars EKOS 2.9.5 and indilib v1.7.0. Processed in PixInsight and tweaked in Lightroom.
