WHO: The 101st object in astronomer Charles Messier’s catalog is commonly known as M101 or the Pinwheel Galaxy. WHAT: Like the Milky Way, M101 is a spiral gal- axy. The most notable features of these galaxies are the graceful spiral structures arcing out from their centers. WHERE: M101 is located at a distance of about 25 mil- light years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major, the “bear.” From the ground, M101 can be seen off the handle of the Big Dipper with a small tele- scope or binoculars. WHEN: The objects in M101 have a wide variety of ages ranging from newborn stars to globular clusters containing stars that are billions of years old. HOW: X-rays show superheated material through- out M101, while infrared and optical data outline the cooler dust and young stars in the spiral arms of the galaxy (see below). WHY: Since Earth is located within the Milky Way’s fat, thin disk, it is impossible for us to see in its en- tirety. Instead, by observing other spiral galaxies that are oriented “face on” to us, like M101, we can better understand our home galaxy. More at: http://chandra.harvard.edu M101 CONSTELLATION USRA MAJOR X-RAYS FROM NASA’S CHANDRA OPTICAL DATA FROM NASA’S HUBBLE INFRARED EMISSION FROM NASA’S SPITZER CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM & TEMPERATURE 100 million K 10,000 K 100 K 10 K
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WHO: The 101st object in astronomer Charles Messier’s catalog is commonly known as M101 or the Pinwheel Galaxy.
WHAT: Like the Milky Way, M101 is a spiral gal-axy. The most notable features of these galaxies are
the graceful spiral structures arcing out from their centers.
WHERE: M101 is located at a distance of about 25 mil-light years from Earth in the constellation Ursa
Major, the “bear.” From the ground, M101 can be seen off the handle of the Big Dipper with a small tele-
scope or binoculars.
WHEN: The objects in M101 have a wide variety of ages ranging from newborn stars to globular clusters containing stars that are billions of years old.
HOW: X-rays show superheated material through-out M101, while infrared and optical data outline the cooler dust and young stars in the spiral arms of the galaxy (see below).
WHY: Since Earth is located within the Milky Way’s flat, thin disk, it is impossible for us to see in its en-tirety. Instead, by observing other spiral galaxies thatare oriented “face on” to us, like M101, we can better understand our home galaxy. More at: http://chandra.harvard.edu
M101
ConSTELLaTIon USra Major
X-rayS FroMnaSa’S ChanDra
oPTICaL DaTa FroM naSa’S hUBBLE
InFrarED EMISSIon FroM naSa’S SPITzEr
ChanDra X-ray oBSErvaTory hUBBLE SPaCE TELESCoPE SPITzEr SPaCE TELESCoPE
THE ElEcTROmAgNETic SpEcTRum & TEmpERATuRE
100 million K 10,000 K 100 K 10 K
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