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.
Credits
NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | M10, NGC 5457, The Pinwheel Galaxy |
| Object Description | Face-on Spiral Galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 14h 3m 13.0s |
| Dec. Position | 54° 20' 52.99" |
| Constellation | Ursa Major |
| Distance | 25 million light-years (8 Megaparsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created from HST data from proposals : 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 ) • John Trauger (proposal ) • Jeremy Mould (proposal ) • You-Hou Chu (proposal ) 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 Dates | November 2002 |
| Filters | F435W (B), F555W (V), F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | Blue: F435W (B) Green: F555W (V) Red: F814W (I) |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The 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. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
