M101, NGC5457

[M101] M101, NGC5457

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The giant pinwheel galaxy, M101, in the constellation Ursa Major. Of type Sc, and quite similar to our own Galaxy, it is seen almost face-on, showing the spiral arms and the intervening dust lanes (dark filaments) with great clarity in this 1975 image from the Kitt Peak 4-meter Mayall telescope. It is about 15 million light-years away.

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