Explorations
Swift sees Pinwheel Galaxy
February 1, 2005
The Swift satellite's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) has seen first light, capturing an image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, long loved by amateur astronomers as the "perfect" face-on spiral galaxy. The UVOT now remains poised to observe its first gamma-ray burst and the Swift observatory, launched into Earth orbit in November 2004, is now fully operational. For more, check here.
Hot, young stars form in the spiral arms of the galaxy.
Older, cooler stars dominate the central regions of the galaxy.
Foreground stars, located in our own Galaxy, reveal themselves in red.