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A Detailed Look at Spiral Galaxy M101
A close cropping of spiral galaxy M101 shows an array of stunning details that may be overlooked when viewing the full image. Due to the high sensitivity and fine resolution of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, one can clearly see individual dust lanes in the spiral arms as easily as an aerial photo captures rivers flowing through a mountain range here on Earth. Bright, hot regions that are areas of active star formation also dot the spiral arms, akin to ground photos of the bright lights of major cities when photographed at night.
Several bright stars appear in this small section of M101 (also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy). They are in our own galaxy, superimposed in the line of sight and appear much brighter than the stars within M101 because they are so much closer. So too, a background spiral galaxy, millions of light-years behind M101, appears between two spiral arms.
The bright nucleus of M101 just off to the upper left appears brighter and redder than the rest of the galaxy seen in the image. Stars near the halo that surround the nucleus are older and redder compared to the blue, young, hot stars that delineate the spiral arms and populate the metropolitan-style star-forming regions.
This image, a portion of the full M101 Hubble mosaic, contains only Hubble data from blue, green and infrared filters taken in November 2002.
About the Object
- R.A. PositionR.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.14h 3m 13.0s
- Dec. PositionDec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.54° 20' 52.99"
- ConstellationConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.Ursa Major
- DistanceDistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.25 million light-years (8 Megaparsecs)
About the Data
- Data DescriptionData DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.This image was created from HST data from proposals 9490: K.D. Kuntz (JHU/GSFC), P. Barmby and J.P. Huchra (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), K. Mukai, S.L. Snowden, and W.D. Pence (Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics, GSFC), and J.P. Brodie (University of California, Santa Cruz). Other proposals used include: • Fabio Bresolin (proposal 9492) • John Trauger (proposal 5210) • Jeremy Mould (proposal 5397) • You-Hou Chu (proposal 6829) The Hubble exposures have been superimposed onto ground-based images, visible at the edge of the image, taken at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii, and at the 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Arizona. - Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.November 2002
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.F435W (B), F555W (V), F814W (I)
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.M10, NGC 5457, The Pinwheel Galaxy
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Face-on Spiral Galaxy
- Release DateFebruary 28, 2006
- Science ReleaseHubble’s Largest Galaxy Portrait Offers a New High-Definition View
- Credits
Blue: F435W (B) Green: F555W (V) Red: F814W (I)
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Hubble's Largest Galaxy Portrait Offers a New High-Definition View
Giant galaxies weren't assembled in a day. Neither was this Hubble Space Telescope image of the face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101 (M101). It is the largest and most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy that has ever been released from Hubble. The galaxy's portrait is actually...
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
