Pinwheel Galaxy from Swift
February 3, 2005
The Swift satellite's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) has seen first light, capturing an image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, long loved by amateur astronomers as the "perfect" face-on spiral galaxy. The UVOT now remains poised to observe its first gamma-ray burst.
This UVOT image of the pinwheel galaxy M101 is a 'false-color' image generated with the near-UV, the blue, and yellow filters, represented by blue, green, and red, respectively. This image shows more light from the central regions of the galaxy, where older, cooler stars dominate the emission.
Topics:
M101 Group, Spiral galaxies, Astronomy, Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission, Galaxy, Gamma-ray burst, Pinwheel Galaxy, Messier objects, Ursa Major constellation, Technology Internet
