M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, is a face-on spiral galaxy approximately 21 million light years from Earth. The galaxy is approximately the same size as our own Milky Way Galaxy (170,000 light years in diameter). Discovered in 1781, it became one of the final entries into the Messier Catalog.

This image was taken with our Planewave 17" telescope and FLI PL16803 camera in Texas, and comprises more than 21 hours of LRGB data. 3 hours of narrowband data has been added to enhance Hydrogen Alpha regions within the galaxy's arms. Processed in Thailand using PixInsight and Photoshop.

Data collected at the Dark Sky Observatory Collaborative (DSOC) in Ft. Davis, TX using SC Observatory's remote Planewave CDK 17" f/6.8 scope, in collaboration with:

John Kasianowicz, Josh Balsam, Mike Selby, Dhaval Brahmbhatt, Scott Johnson, Mike Bushell, Rich Johnson

Image processing: Andy Chatman and Stefan Schmidt