Astrophysics (Index)About

Pinwheel Galaxy

(M101, NGC 5457, Messier 101)
(easily-observed spiral galaxy)

The Pinwheel Galaxy (M101, Messier 101, or NGC 5457) is a spiral galaxy about 21 million light-years' distant that is oriented moderately close to perpendicular to the line of sight, i.e., so the spiral is fully in view, an advantage for its study. It is classified as a grand design spiral galaxy, i.e., showing a very clear spiral structure. Recent Type Ia supernova, SN 2011fe, was in M101.


(galaxy,spiral)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinwheel_Galaxy
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=M101
RedshiftParsecs
/Distance
Lightyears
/Lookback Years
  
.00156Mpc21.0MlyPinwheel Galaxy
Coordinates:M101
J140312.6+542057

Referenced by pages:
grand design spiral galaxy
Great Debate
Morgan classification
spiral galaxy

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