Messier 101
| This beautiful spiral galaxy was first discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781. Commonly called the Pinwheel Galaxy it is located in the constellation Ursa Major. One of the largest galaxies, it is over 170,000 light years across. This image was taken over multiple nights to obtain the 11 hours of data. Click the image for a larger version of this beautiful galaxy. I'd like to give a personal thank you to Ken Crawford for his invaluable help processing this image. |
| Telescope: Astro-Physics 160mm EDF f7.5 | Designation: M101 |
Mount: Astro-Physics AP1200GTO |
Constellation: Ursa Major |
| Camera: SBIG ST10XME with Astrodon Filters | Distance: Approx 2.7 Million Light Years |
| Guiding: SBIG ST402 via Mini Borg 60mm | Type: Spiral Galaxy |
| Exposure: 5 Hours Luminance, 6 hours color rgb | Position: R.A. 05 hr 52 min , Dec +32033' |
| Processed using CCDStack, PhotoShop CS3 | Date: 31 December 2007 - 07 January 2008 |
| Acquisition: CCDAutopilot/CCDSoft/The Sky 6/M1OASYS | Location: Deerlick Astronomy Village |