Largest ever galaxy portrait - stunning HD image of Pinwheel Galaxy

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This new Hubble image reveals the gigantic Pinwheel galaxy one of the best known examples of grand design spirals and its supergiant star-forming regions in unprecedented detail. The image is the largest and most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy eve ...
This new Hubble image reveals the gigantic Pinwheel galaxy, one of the best known examples of “grand design spirals”, and its supergiant star-forming regions in unprecedented detail. The image is the largest and most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy ever released. Image credit: European Space Agency & NASA

Giant galaxies weren't assembled in a day. Neither was this Hubble Space Telescope image of the face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101 (the Pinwheel Galaxy). It is the largest and most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy beyond the Milky Way that has ever been publicly released. The galaxy's portrait is actually composed from 51 individual Hubble exposures, in addition to elements from images from ground-based photos. The final composite image measures a whopping 16,000 by 12,000 pixels.


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All News summaries for February 28, 2006

'Clock ticking' on global warming: UN climate chief

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Time is running out in the fight against global warming, the UN's top climate change official warned as a new round of UN talks got started here Thursday.

New clues to air circulation in the atmosphere

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Air circulates above the Earth in four distinct cells, with two either side of the equator, says new research. The new observational study describes how air rises and falls in the atmosphere above the Earth's surface, creating ...

Sperm Whales in Gulf Seemingly Unaffected by Distant Seismic Sounds

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
A six-year study on sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico – designed to learn more about their abundance, migration patterns and behavior – suggests that long-range seismic sounds associated with oil and gas exploration and ...

Phoenix Mars Lander Explores Site by Trenching

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scientists and engineers are continuing to dig into the area around the lander with the spacecraft's robotic arm, looking for new materials to analyze and examining the soil and ice subsurface structure.

Tahitian vanilla originated in Maya forests

Aug 21, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
The origin of the Tahitian vanilla orchid, whose cured fruit is the source of the rare and highly esteemed gourmet French Polynesian spice, has long eluded botanists. Known by the scientific name Vanilla ...
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