Dark Horse Observatory
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Image Details: Pinwheel GalaxyYou Are Here > Images > Dark Horse Observatory Images > UGC ObjectsPinwheel Galaxy
Detailed Information:
I decided to try and image this object myself to see how it would look under brighter skies and with a smaller aperture. I was surprised at how nicely it turned out. Messier 101 (M101, NGC 5457) also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy is a magnitude 8.3 face-on spiral galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major, and is located at a distance of about 27 million light years. It has an apparent size of 28.8x26.9 arc minutes. This object was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. It was cataloged later by Messier on 27 March 1781. This galaxy is faint and difficult to see except under dark skies. It can be located between the tail of Ursa Major and Boötes. This also happens to be M102 which was a double observation by Messier. So technically you are seeing two Messier objects at once. The image below is annotated to help you identifiy other objects in the FOV. I apologize for the overlapping labels, but I could not fix them. ![]() SEDS link for additional information: http://messier.seds.org/m/m101.html
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