The Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101) - Sketch

M101 - pinwheel galaxy drawing

Object details: "Pinwheel galaxy" - Messier 101.
magnitude: 7.9m,  distance: 21Mly, dimensions: 29x27 arcmin, constellation: UMa.
Location and conditions: Negev desert (Borot Lutz), Israel, ~6.6 NELM.
Time and date: 29/04/2014 , 03:30 (UT+3).
Instrument: 250mm F/5 Newtonian, 13mm Vixen LVW, type-1 paracorr (106X).
Drawing details: Graphite pencil sketch on a white paper, made while observing through a telescope. Sketch is north oriented. Scanned, inverted and processed in Photoshop.
Observer: Michael Vlasov.

Notes:
Messier 101 is a large, perfectly "face on" spiral galaxy, with irregular spiral structure clearly visible under dark skies and through appropriate aperture. The galaxy has asymmetrical structure, with 3 long, twisted spiral arms. Also several "knots" (nebulae regions) can be spotted in outter arms - each of them has its own NGC designation.

Objects in field of view:
Messier 101: spiral galaxy, 7.9m
NGC 5449: diffuse nebula
NGC 5447 / 5450: diffuse nebula
NGC 5458: diffuse nebula (?)
NGC 5461: diffuse nebula
NGC 5462: diffuse nebula

messier 101 - annotated image

Original drawing:
m101 - pinwheel galaxy original pencil sketch