Pinwheel Galaxy. Artwork of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), drawn by the 19th-century Irish astronomer William Parsons (1800-1867), the third Earl of Ross

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Pinwheel Galaxy. Artwork of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), drawn by the 19th-century Irish astronomer William Parsons (1800-1867), the third Earl of Rosse. At the time of this observation, this object was considered to be a nebula within our galaxy. When more powerful telescopes were used in the early 20th century, it was realised that such 'spiral nebulae' contained stars and were much more distant objects. The Pinwheel Galaxy is around 27 million light years from Earth, in the constellation of Ursa Major.

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Size: 4724px × 3749px
Photo credit: © ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1800s, 1880s, 19th, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, black--white, british, century, drawing, earl, english, european, galaxy, historical, history, illustration, irish, lord, m101, major, monochrome, nebula, observation, observations, parsons, pinwheel, research, rosse, science, space, spiral, universe, ursa, william