A selection of some of the millions of individual stars visible in Messier 101 with Hubble’s sharp vision. In total it is estimated that the Pinwheel galaxy contains about one trillion stars.

Credit:

Image: European Space Agency & NASA

Acknowledgements:

Project Investigators for the original Hubble data: K.D. Kuntz (GSFC), F. Bresolin (University of Hawaii), J. Trauger (JPL), J. Mould (NOAO), and Y.-H. Chu (University of Illinois, Urbana)

Image processing: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

CFHT image: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/J.-C. Cuillandre/Coelum

NOAO image: George Jacoby, Bruce Bohannan, Mark Hanna/NOAO/AURA/NSF