This is my best view yet of the massive, face-on spiral galaxy M101. This galaxy is massive. Measuring 170,000 lightyears in diameter, it is nearly twice the size of our own Milky Way. Earlier this year I spent weeks collecting this two panel mosaic of it using my largest telescope, and it happened to coincide with the emergence of a new supernova within it that can be seen here and in an earlier post that I made with a smaller crop of this data.
I find it hard to get my mind around the scope of this magnificent monster. What do you think?
