Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2021 November 27
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                                 Messier 101
              Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]CFHT, [6]NOAO;
       Acknowledgement - K.Kuntz ([7]GSFC), F.Bresolin ([8]U.Hawaii),
     J.Trauger ([9]JPL), J.Mould ([10]NOAO), Y.-H.Chu ([11]U. Illinois)

   Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last
   entries in [12]Charles Messier's famous catalog, but definitely not
   [13]one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is
   enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way. M101 was also one
   of the original [14]spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse's large 19th
   century telescope, the [15]Leviathan of Parsontown. Assembled from 51
   exposures recorded by the [16]Hubble Space Telescope in the 20th and
   21st centuries, with additional data from ground based telescopes, this
   mosaic spans about 40,000 light-years across the central region of M101
   in one of the highest definition spiral galaxy portraits ever released
   from Hubble. [17]The sharp image shows stunning features of the
   galaxy's face-on disk of stars and dust along with background galaxies,
   some visible right through M101 itself. Also known as the [18]Pinwheel
   Galaxy, M101 lies within the boundaries of the northern constellation
   [19]Ursa Major, about 25 million light-years away.

                  Tomorrow's picture: Churyumov-Gerasimenko
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    Authors & editors: [31]Robert Nemiroff ([32]MTU) & [33]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([34]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [35]Specific rights apply.
              [36]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [37]ASD at [38]NASA / [39]GSFC
                           & [40]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2111/M101_hst6000.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://www.spacetelescope.org/
   5. https://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/
   6. https://www.noao.edu/
   7. https://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/
   8. https://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/
   9. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
  10. https://www.noao.edu/
  11. https://astro.illinois.edu/
  12. https://www.nasa.gov/content/explore-the-night-sky-hubble-s-messier-catalog-bio
  13. https://www.messier.seds.org/m/m102d.html
  14. https://www.messier.seds.org/more/m101_rosse.html
  15. https://birrcastle.com/telescope-astronomy/
  16. https://hubblesite.org/
  17. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2006/10/1865-Image.html
  18. https://www.messier.seds.org/m/m101.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160123.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211126.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  29. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=211127
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211128.html
  31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  33. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  34. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  36. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  37. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  38. https://www.nasa.gov/
  39. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  40. http://www.mtu.edu/