Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Spitzer's M101

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 30, 2009 is “Spitzer's M101,” an image. It is credited to NASA , JPL-Caltech , K. Gordon ( STScI ) et al.. The original explanation runs about 189 words.

Spitzer's M101
Credit: NASA , JPL-Caltech , K. Gordon ( STScI ) et al. Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last entries in Charles Messier’s famous catalog, but definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy.”

— APOD editors, December 30, 2009

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 30, 2009
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: NASA , JPL-Caltech , K. Gordon ( STScI ) et al.
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 189 words

All of December 2009 → · 2009 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

The Milky WayGalaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 30 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.