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M101 – the Wonder Galaxy. Karl D. Gordon, STScI, 29 Jan 2009, IYA09. Why M101. M101 = Pinwheel Galaxy Large, bright, and face-on Apparent size is >0.5 degrees 2x larger than the Milky Way Not inclined Lots of star formation Very weak bulge Large metallicity gradient
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M101 – the Wonder Galaxy Karl D. Gordon, STScI, 29 Jan 2009, IYA09
Why M101 M101 = Pinwheel Galaxy Large, bright, and face-on Apparent size is >0.5 degrees 2x larger than the Milky Way Not inclined Lots of star formation Very weak bulge Large metallicity gradient Strong change in metals (> He) with radius
Optical Stars Young (blue) Old (red) Gas Emission lines (not shown) Dust (obscuration)
Infrared Stars Old (blue) Dust Aromatics (Organics) (green) Hot Dust Star formation (red)
X-ray Point-sources X-ray binaries (black holes/ neutron stars) Supernovae remnants Extended Emission Stellar clusters Hot gas
Other Views of M101 Very popular galaxy Observed with other NASA space mission And ground based observatories A clear view of star formation from: GALEX – ultraviolet Radio – 21cm HI line Spitzer - infrared
Ultraviolet Hot Young Stars (unobscured) Dust (obscuration) Dust scattered light GALEX far-UV (0.15 micron)
Infrared Hot Young Stars (obscured) Hot Dust Emission Spitzer/MIPS (24 micron)
Radio 21cm emission line Atomic hydrogen Fuel for stars Ground-based Very Large Array
Star Formation Fuel (green) Unobscured (blue) Obscured (red)