M 101 "The Pinwheel Galaxy" Located below the handle of the "big dipper" in Ursa Major, M101 is a beautiful spiral galaxy that is 190,000 + light years in diameter. The Pinwheel Galaxy is a member of the M101 Galaxy Group and is some 25 million light years from earth. Photo May 2007from Summit County with a Pentax 105SHDF apo refractor with a Canon 30D camera.