M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy
M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy is a face on spiral galaxy that can be found in the constellation of Ursa Major, sometimes known as the Big Dipper, The Plough or the stars that look like a saucepan. This grand design spiral galaxy discovered in 1781 has a diameter of 170,000 light-years and is at a distance of 21 million light-years away. In other words, the light that formed this picture set off 21 million years ago, you are seeing it as it was then, that’s how far away it is. The image was taken through a Williams Optics 110 telescope is made of 5×120 second exposures and stacked together.
