The Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as M101, is a stunning spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, about 21 million light-years from Earth. With a large, nearly face-on orientation, it displays beautiful, well-defined spiral arms filled with bright blue star clusters and reddish regions of active star formation. M101 is known for its striking symmetrical structure and massive size, spanning about 170,000 light-years across, making it almost twice the diameter of our Milky Way.
My first attempt to capture this galaxy was 8 years ago. This time I am equipped with a new camera and significantly improved processing skills:
Telescope | Newtonian 254/1000 mm |
Aperture | 254 mm |
Focal length | 1170 mm |
Mount | Gemini G53f |
Autoguiding | ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm |
Camera | ZWO 2600MC @-10°C |
Corrector | TeleVue Paracorr 2″ |
Filters | Antlia RGB |
Exposure | 153x180s, Gain 100, bin 1×1, |
Date | 2024-04-11 |
Wow it is incredible and stunning,thank you so much for sharing this amazing pictures and information
Thanks, Eric.