Messier 101 – Galaxy

(Image from NASA.  Click on image and stare at its mass)

The Galaxy M101, an image that is a collection of photos from the Hubble Space telescope and various ground telescopes over a ten year period.  So that all  the aspects of this magnificent image can be completed in its entirety.

Its solar mass and size is twice as large as the Milky Way, the Galaxy that our spec of a planet resides within.  Where the Milky Way has been estimated to hold one hundred billion stars, M101 holds one trillion stars as a current estimation within its mass.

Discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain, which in turn was added to the Charles Messier catalogue of known Galaxies.  It is 25 Million light years from Earth.  An old massive entity.

I try to imagine what kinds of life would exist there, that may reside on the millions of planets within its spirals.

My mind goes blank, in a good way, to the unfathomable.