A close look at M101
By Shawn Grant
Ursa Major the Great Bear is perhaps the most well known constellation in the sky. Many people know it as the Big Dipper. Throughout mankind people have marveled at this great constellation. The Indians used the optical double star Mizar and Alcor as test of vision. If a brave could split the pair he was said to have keen eyes. Ursa Major is a circumpolar constellation, which means that it never sets however in the spring of the year it is higher and best seen. The Great Bear has many interesting galaxies within its borders. We are going to look at the M101 and some surrounding galaxies.
Many of us have seen M101. We describe it as a beautiful face on spiral. It has a bright core with
nice spiral arms radiating out, but there is a lot more to this galaxy. M101 is a bright 8.3 magnitude and has a massive size of 28.9’ X 26.9’. A close and careful look at this galaxy will reveal some knots. We are going to take a closer look at these knots but first here are some tips on observing them. Choose a moonless night with good transparency. Even though this is a galaxy don’t be afraid to use a broadband nebula filter to bring out the clumps but don’t use a narrowband it will dim the galaxy too much.
In the southwest edge of the galaxy you may see a knot called NGC 5447. This is a diffused nebula within the galaxy. Every winter we gaze at the Orion nebula. We ponder at its brightness and awesome size. NGC 5447 is a similar object in a completely different galaxy. Due to the great distance it is much smaller at 0.5’ X 1.0’ but nonetheless just as inspiring as the great nebula of Orion. There are other great nebulas so lets go on. NGC 5461 is east southeast of the core. It is a little smaller then NGC 5447 at the size of 0.8’ X 0.4’. It is compact and has a high surface brightness.
NGC 5462 is just north of NGC 5461. It is a little larger but slightly fainter. It is on the outer edge of a spiral arm.
For those of you interested in miss cataloged or non-existent NGC objects M101 has at least four of these mysteries. NGC 5458 is one of those mysteries. It lies just south of the core. It is classified as non-existent and is plotted where there is nothing. Just a tiny bit to the north is the object MAC 1403+5417. Objects NGC 5453, NGC 5449, and NGC 5451 are also marked as non-existent with similar objects nearby.
A half a degree north of M101 we come to a faint galaxy NGC 5473. It is 12.4 in magnitude and 
2.3’ X 1.6’ in size. It is mostly even in brightness but does have a slightly brighter center. It looks like a faint finger print. A bright galaxy NGC 5485 can be found just 22 minutes to the northeast of NGC 5473. It is 11.4 magnitude and the same size as NGC 5473. It has a bright center and gradually grows fainter towards the edge. For those of you with larger telescopes look for a faint galaxy NGC 5486 just a few minutes to the north. It is magnitude 13.8. Backtrack to M101 and 45 minutes to the southyou will find a fairly bright and large galaxy NGC 5474. It is magnitude 11.3 and a large size of 4.7’ X 4.7’. It has a bright center or at least a bright point with an outer envelope to the south.
Before going out on an observing run do some research on the objects you are going to observe. Instead of just looking at M101 or any other object and saying ooh ah neat next object. See what else there is and what other objects maybe nearby. As in the case of this star-hop you maybe surprised at what else you may find.
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