The heat of the Pinwheel

Bad Astronomy
By Phil Plait
Jul 25, 2011 4:00 PMNov 19, 2019 11:40 PM

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Spiral galaxies are among the most beautiful objects in the sky, and one of the most beautiful of them is M101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. It's a reliable favorite among amateur astronomers because it's big, bright, and located near the north pole of the sky, so it's easy to find for a big part of the year. I've seen it many times through a telescope, but not quite like the way NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) saw it: glowing fiercely in colors our eyes cannot detect:

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