About this Object:
The Pinwheel Galaxy (also known as Messier 101 or NGC 5457) is a face-on spiral galaxy distanced 25 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. M101 is a relatively large galaxy compared to the Milky Way. With a diameter of 170,000 light-years it is nearly twice the size of the Milky Way. It has a disk mass on the order of 100 billion solar masses, along with a small bulge of about 3 billion solar masses.
About this Photo:
Date(s): February 5, 2011
Location: From my driveway in Georgetown, Texas
Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ F6.5
Mount: HEQ-5
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider / Taurus Tracker III
Camera: Canon 40D Modified
Filter: Astronomik CLS
Exposure: 5x600s @ ISO1600 (50 Minutes total)
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 3.75 Camera Control
Processing: ImagesPlus 3.75 – Darks,Flats,Bias
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS3; Gradient Exterminator; Noise Ninja; Noel Carboni's Tools;
Temperature(s): 40º F