The Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as Messier 101 or NGC 5457, is a grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of about 27 million light-years from Earth. It is nearly twice the size of our Milky Way.
M101 is usually referred as a classical example of an spiral galaxy. The observed deviation from symmetry is associated with a recent galaxy encounter, that triggered strong star formation visible now as bright HII regions, or the red spots in the image shown above.
Messier 74 is nicknamed the "phantom galaxy," because it is very difficult for amateur astronomers to view. This galaxy is similar to our Milky Way galaxy, containing over 100 million stars.
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