Wikipedia Description:
The Pinwheel Galaxy (also known as Messier 101, M101 or NGC 5457) is a face-on, counterclockwise Intermediate spiral galaxy located 21 million light-years (6.4 megaparsecs)[4] from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781[a] and was communicated that year to Charles Messier, who verified its position for inclusion in the Messier Catalogue as one of its final entries.
M101 is a large galaxy, with a diameter of 252,000 light-years. By comparison, the Milky Way has a diameter of 87,400 light-years.[12] It has around a trillion stars.[13] 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.[14] Its characteristics can be compared to those of Andromeda Galaxy.
Acquisition Details:
| Telescope | Takahashi TOA-130 |
| Optics | Takahashi TOA-645 Flattener |
| Filter | None |
| Camera | ASI2600MC Pro OSC |
| Integration Time | 4.45 hours |
| Subframes | 89 x 180 seconds |
| Date | May 20, 2025 |
| Location | Carlsbad, California |