Messier 101

         Pinwheel Galaxy

 Spiral Galaxy

 In constellation Ursa Major

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Discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781. M101 is

27 million light years away and is twice the size

of our own Milkyway. It measures 170,000 light

years across and  weighs 500 billion solar

masses. Small dwarf galaxy companion

NGC 5474 can  be seen to the West of M101.

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RA 14^h 03^m 12.60^s  :  DEC +54° 20′ 57.0″

M101 has a magnitude (brightness) of 8.3

and its size is 28'.8 x 29'.9

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Imaging Scope : Takahashi Epsilon 160

Focal Length = 530mm [image cropped to fit]

Imaging Camera : Canon Rebel XTi

Guide Scope : William Optics Megrez 80FD

EQ6 Pro GEM Mount : Manually Guided using GSTAR-EX

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12 x 240 second exposures [48 Minutes]

at ISO 800. Imaged in dark skies Baldrine,

Isle of Man, British Isles. 22:15 on 29/04/2008.