# M101 hires STScI-PRC2006-10a

- By: Credit:
- Date: 2006-02-28
- Classification: Photograph
- Credit line: http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0602.html (direct link) See also: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2006/10/image/a
- Museum: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M101_hires_STScI-PRC2006-10a.jpg)
- Rights: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/commons/thumb/c/c5/M101_hires_STScI-PRC2006-10a.jpg/1920px-M101_hires_STScI-PRC2006-10a.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The galaxy Messier 101 (M101, also known as NGC 5457 and also nicknamed the Pinwheel Galaxy) lies in the northern circumpolar constellation, Ursa Major (The Great Bear), at a distance of about 21 million light-years from Earth. This is one of the largest and most detailed photos of a spiral galaxy that have been released from Hubble. The galaxy's portrait is actually composed of 51 individual Hubble exposures, in addition to elements from images from ground-based photos. A high-res version with 15852 x 12392 pixels in jpg and tiff format is also available, see below for url.